LIBRARY. OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. _i Copyright No. 

Shelf _,Wxf^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



New Dispensation 



AT THE DAWN 

—OF— 



The Twentieth Century 



BY 



J. WILSON. 



Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? 
— Galatians. 



New York 
LEMCKE & BUECHNER, 
812 Broadway. 
1901. 



899 



Library of Congress 

Two Copies Received 
JAN 3 1901 

Copyright entry 

SECOND COPY 

0«<tv#fed to 

0«0£R DIVISION 

JAN 8 1901 



COPYKIGHT, 1900, BY J. WlLSON. 




INTRODUCTORY. 



No man hath seen God at any time. — Bible. 

When a man has completed the allotted term of three 
score years and ten, it would seem that, if he were ever 
to know anything reliable, or if he were ever to be re- 
garded as a witness competent to testify on the affairs 
of life, he has reached that period already. The author 
of this work has been a student of nature and an ob- 
server of the ways of men for sixty years ; he began his 
studies much earlier in life than is customary among 
men ; and would it be strange if during all this time he 
had learned something that it would be of advantage for 
the world to know ? 

The writer does not mean to insinuate or assert that all 
who have testified before him have borne false witness ; 
he does not claim that they were wrong in the positions 
taken, or that they were even deluded or mistaken in 
the views which they presented. But they taught under 
different circumstances and for an age quite unlike ours ; 
the conditions of the case in their time varied quite 
materially from those which prevail at the present time. 
The teachings that are found in this book are for men 
who are yet to come, and it would not be strange if 
these doctrines were not fuljy understood and appre- 
ciated by those of the present generation, who are, as 



4 



INTRODUCTORY. 



we know, still encumbered with the false notions, the 
impedimenta, of past ages, and who have thus far given 
but little attention to what is known as advanced thought. 

What is given in this book is emphatically a revela- 
tion. All thought is a revelation, and that thought is 
especially such which comes, as these thoughts have 
come, from prolonged study, accompanied with profound 
meditation. The writer does not claim to be inspired in 
any mysterious or miraculous sense, though he does not 
doubt that these thoughts are as much inspired as any 
thoughts ever have been. All thoughts are inspired ; 
they are always something that is above and beyond 
ourselves ; like dreams they come unbidden, no one 
knows whence, and no one can tell how. Every serious 
thinker comes to feel at last that he is moved by a power 
that is not his own, and that the work he is doing is not 
for the advantage of himself alone, but for the good of 
mankind. In that sense the writer feels that he misdit 

o 

with complete propriety claim to be inspired. While he 
is not a fatalist, in the practical or literal sense of the 
word, he nevertheless believes firmly that he has been 
preserved unto this day to do the work that he is now 
doing. He makes no pretension to being anything but 
an ordinary man, but then it must not be forgotten that 
all the truly great and excellent work yet done in this 
world has been the achievement of ordinary men, of men 
who, in their own day and among those who knew them 
best, were never regarded in any other light than as 
ordinary men. Moses was an eminent leader and law- 
giver, but the career he ran was that of an ordinary man. 
Confucius and Zoroaster were ordinary men, and so was 
Buddha likewise. Socrates, the great teacher, was an 
ordinary man, and if Mahomet was anything beyond an 
ordinary man, it was because he was not only a fanatic, 
but a confirmed epileptic. It might be added that 
Socrates never even wrote a book ; like Christ, he never 



INTRODUCTORY. 



5 



wrote anything that has come down to the present time. 
We who happen to have known Joe Smith and Brigham 
Young know very well that the former at least was 
hardly up to the average of ordinary men. There was 
nothing extraordinary even about St. Paul. He was an 
earnest and devoted preacher in his day, but there have 
been teachers and preachers since his time that have had 
more followers than St. Paul had. And even Christ was 
never regarded by any considerable number of people as 
being either God or godlike, until some centuries after 
his death. While living, he was known as Joseph the 
carpenter's son, as doubtless he really was. Christ him- 
self never taught the doctrine of his own incarnation, at 
least not in direct and unmistakable language. He 
seemed to be uncertain about his identity up to the 
time of his death. No one being a (rod, or having the 
power of God, could be condemned to death and cruci- 
fied as Christ was. It is men who die — gods never die. 
A God who could be crucified, as Christ was, through 
the combined efforts and machinations of a rabble made 
up of common Jews and Romans, could not lay any 
claims to being a real God. But Christ never pretended 
to be God, or even the son of Gocl in airy literal sense. 
It is true he did miracles, but he was by no means fond 
of the business. He did miracles because the people 
pressed him and were determined to have a sign. He 
also cast out devils. But so did others do miracles and 
cast out devils. He healed the sick, but that has often 
been done. There are men who heal the sick to-day — 
we call them doctors or scientists. He raised the dead — 
or those who were supposed to be dead — but even that 
had been done before his day, and it has been done since. 
People are often revived after they have lain in a trance 
even for days. Many people have revived after being 
given up to die. In such cases we say this or that 
doctor saved them. 



6 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The writer of this book does not claim to have found 
any plates, nor even any laws written upon tables of 
brass or stone. He has never passed any time in a cave, 
or in a desert, or in the wilderness, in order to get nearer 
to (rod, or farther from man. As said before, his 
thoughts have come in an ordinary manner, through 
ordinary channels, and he believes that all the revela- 
tions that have thus far been given to the world have 
come through just such channels and in just such a 
manner. He is well aware of the fact that the effect 
would be greatly heightened, and the coloring much in- 
tensified, if he should pretend to have had a vision, or a 
dream, because people are surprisingly fond of manifes- 
tations of a supernatural or impossible character. But 
he has no patience with tricks and cheats of any kind, 
or with anything that has the slightest tinge of fraud or 
imposture. He has no fondness for fiction ; there are 
fictions enough even in cases where we are supposed to 
deal with facts which are well known and generally con- 
ceded. He proposes to meet questions fairly and di- 
rectly, and he always makes his appeals to men whom 
he believes to be possessed of both candor and intelli- 
gence. The age of superstition is rapidly vanishing, 
and, he is happy to say, most people now are not so fond 
of signs as people were formerly. 

The writer is not speaking his own thoughts simply, 
nor his own sentiments. No man possesses anything in 
this direction that is properly and specifically his own. 
He is speaking the thoughts of the world, and not so 
much the world at the present day as of the world yet 
to come, the world of a century, or perhaps centuries 
hence. His thoughts differ from the thoughts of other 
men, simply from the fact that they are somewhat in 
advance of the times, or somewhat in advance of the 
mass of mankind. New thoughts always make their 
appearance first in the minds of a few men. All men 



INTRODUCTORY. 



7 



come to have the same thoughts at last, but that happens 
always much later on. 

The writer does not propose to set forth a complete 
code, but merely to present for consideration a new set 
of principles, from which a new code might be naturally 
and regularly evolved. If we dispense with God — or 
rather leave him entirely out of consideration, as sound 
thinking men at present generally do — that of itself must 
lead to a rearrangement or a readjustment of all the ele- 
ments of belief. We must become new men, and our 
whole conduct must be affected by such a radical change 
in our philosophy. If we have no God, there can be no 
basis on which to found anything like legitimate govern- 
ment. Without God, every sovereign would be a 
usurper or an impostor. God alone has the right to 
rule ; or those alone have that right whom Grod has 
chosen to rule in his stead. There would be no punish- 
ments, for God alone has the right to punish ; no right 
to judge, for God alone is able to look into the hearts of 
men and discern their true inwardness ; no right to 
sanctify marriage, for God alone has the authority over 
matters that are deemed sacred or divine. Forgiveness 
alone belongs to God ; and so does revenge, if such a 
thing must necessarily exist. God alone could properly 
be the avenger. Without God there would be no sacri- 
fices, no tithes, no taxes, no devotion, no reverence, no 
submission, no laws, no government, no sovereign. Not 
to believe in God implies that we view the world under 
an entirely new aspect. It means a New Dispensation, 
with new men, and a new belief for the generations that 
are to come. 

The writer does not pretend to have proved or demon- 
strated anything. He simply appeals to the common 
sense of intelligent men, and asks them if what is found 
written in this book does not impress them as being 
sensible, or at least plausible ? In fact, are not his posi- 



8 



INTRODUCTORY. 



tions found to be well taken, and are not his postulates 
entirety defensible? He does not say there is no God. 
He merely says he is acquainted with none. He has 
never yet seen God — though he has traveled consider- 
ably, for one of his years — and he has never met any- 
body that pretended to have seen God. He does not 
have, so far as this question is concerned, sufficient evi- 
dence on which to form a belief, and for that reason, on 
this subject, he has no belief. As he does not know 
God, and he has no means of communicating with him 
in any way, or of appealing to him, he feels obliged to 
go on in his career as if the existence of such a being 
had never been mentioned. He does not adore God, he 
does not supplicate him, he does not offer him any sacri- 
fices ; he does not even bow to him, because he feels that 
he might as well adore a mere thought as to pretend to 
worship a being that he did not know, and whose ex- 
istence even remains to be demonstrated. He is left to 
go forward on his own account as if he had never heard 
God's name. Of what earthly good to him is a God who 
can do absolutely nothing for him, who can never be 
found when wanted, and who never hears or answers 
when he, the supplicant, is in trouble and appeals to 
him? For him at least, God might as well not exist, 
and so he brushes away the thought entirely, and goes 
on with his business strictly on his own responsibility. 
How he, the writer, came here, or why he was put into 
this world in the first place, he does not know ; and 
what is worse, he has never yet found one who was able 
to enlighten him on these important points. He is not 
alone in this world, it is true, but he might as well be on 
some lone island like Robinson Crusoe, for he is obliged 
to perform his own labor, and seek his own living pre- 
cisely as Robinson did. Mr. Crusoe needed help, if any 
man ever did, but we all know that he got none what- 
ever, at least none from any heavenly source. Why, 



INTRODUCTORY. 



9 



even his humble man Friday was able to be of a great 
deal more service to him than God ever was. Those 
whom we find around us are in the same plight as our- 
selves, and having so much to do for themselves, they 
naturally find but very little "time to do anything for 
others. 

In a strange world like this, it would be very con- 
venient to have a God, or perhaps a half dozen gods, 
who would care for us, feed us, clothe us, and provide 
for us generally. But, as already intimated, no such 
obliging deity has ever put in an appearance in the 
writer's case. If the gods ever were in this line of busi- 
ness, they seem now to have gone out of practice. 
Something or somebody seems to whisper in our ears to 
this effect; "Here is this world before you. You 
probably do not need the whole of it, but you are en- 
titled to your share of it. Here it is, and if you wish 
to live, as most people do, simply help yourself.'' For 
full three score years and over that is what the writer 
has been trying to do to the utmost of his ability, and, 
he is happy to say, he has met with considerable success. 
He had a little help from kind parents in his infancy, 
but aside from that, which was withdrawn shortly after 
he learned to walk, he has never had much assistance 
from any man, and still less from any God. If there 
were any deities, they failed in this instance to come 
around. A man's belief depends largely upon his ex- 
perience. If this writer had been favored with more 
assistance from God, he would doubtless have had 
greater faith in the wisdom and power of the Almighty. 
He would not want to be behindhand in doing favors, 
especially where the deity was concerned. If the gods 
had done more for him, most assuredly he would have 
done more for the gods. He would not mind about 
making sacrifices as the Jews did, if he could be assured 
that he had a God on his side, one ready to fight his 



10 



INTRODUCTORY. 



battles when his strength gave ont, and prepared to 
supply him with food when hunger oppressed him. 

The author feels that he has some right to teach. 
After a person has lived as long as he has, he certainly 
must have learned something. Whether it is destiny 
or fate, or God, that has saved the writer for this work, 
he knows not. He is sure it was not accidental, for 
nothing accidental happens in this world. He feels that 
he has the usual qualifications, or recommendations, for 
writing a book. He has written and published some 
works before this. He is a graduate of a college, if there 
be any great merit in that ; and he has received the 
honorary degree of "Dr.," and let that count for what it 
may. But he really does not see that such things afford 
much assistance in writing books. A great many poor 
books have been written by men who have gone through 
college and had degrees, honorary or otherwise. 

The doctrines that are taught in this book have been 
believed and followed by the author for many years, 
and he has found that they meet the conditions of his 
case extremely well. During all this time he has been 
able to get along with comparative success, maintaining 
the reputation of a respected citizen and a capable busi- 
ness man. It is true his aspirations have never been high, 
but such as they were, they have been happily met thus 
far in life. Indeed, a man's success in affairs does not 
depend so much upon his political and religious convic- 
tions as many suppose. It depends more upon how he 
conducts himself and how he treats his fellow men than 
upon anything else. In his own case, he did not wrangle 
with men who did not happen to see things as he did — 
he did not wrangle with any one. He never sought to 
make converts, and he does not seek them now. He is 
not troubled over what other people believe. So far 
from being angered or disappointed by opposition from 
any source, he has even wondered how people could 



INTRODUCTORY. 



11 



accept his teachings and believe his doctrines without 
traveling the same road that he had traveled, putting 
forth the same efforts that he had put forth, and ex- 
pending the same amount of time that he had expended. 
In dealing with men, he did not seek to lay down 
one rule for himself and another, and a less favorable 
rule, for others to observe. He respected not only 
the rights but the feelings and beliefs of those with 
whom he came in contact. How much they differed 
from him on any point, never gave him any concern. 
They had a right to their opinions, as he had a right to 
his. If he wanted freedom for himself, he was willing to 
grant equal freedom to others, in thought and speech, as 
well as in action. He always spoke freely, and not as 
the hypocrite speaketh, whenever there was occasion to 
speak. He observed the laws and customs of the people 
with whom he lived, whether he liked them or not. He 
would do as much as that if he lived with the Mahome- 
tans or Hottentots. A man who follows this rule can get 
along anywhere in the world. The author has traveled 
alone in every country in Europe, and through many of 
them repeatedly. He has gone alone through Egypt, 
Palestine, Syria, and other eastern countries. He even 
traveled alone through Spain just after the war, when 
America had not a single representative in any capacity 
in that far off country, and he never suffered the slightest 
molestation, nor met with any trouble of any kind. We 
say "traveled alone," but how could any man be said to 
travel alone when he meets so many people every day ? 
A man who goes straight ahead in this world and minds 
his own business will . find that he can go anywhere on 
this planet, " alone " as people express it, without the risk 
of any interference, and without any injury of any kind, 
except from accident. 

In this connexion, the book that is wanted by the 
world is a plain, practical, common-sense work that peo- 



12 



INTRODUCTORY. 



pie can read and readily understand and appreciate. 
How shall we proceed and what course shall we pursue 
that we may be sensible in our action and judicious in our 
movements? That is the question that will be chiefly 
considered in this book. The past and the future are 
alike out of our power ; the present is alone under our 
control. The present is what mainly concerns us. How 
shall we live ? How shall we act ? That is the whole 
question for men and women to consider. We are living 
as it were in a shell, and our main efforts ought to be in 
the direction of a release from that confinement. But as 
we are in the shell and must undoubtedly remain there 
for an indefinite length of time yet, we will, if we are 
sensible, put forth all our efforts towards adapting our- 
selves, as far as possible, to life in this shell. 

First of all, the author believes in labor — not labor for 
the sake of labor, nor saving for the sake of saving, but 
simply as a prudential measure to provide for future 
needs and emergencies. This is different, he knows, 
from the doctrine laid down in the New Testament, but 
that law was laid down for a people living in a different 
country from ours and for a world that was expected to 
soon come to an end. No person can follow the doctrine 
that Christ is reported to have taught, taking no thought 
of the morrow, and then be able to live in a country and 
climate like ours, unless he is blessed with an ample 
inheritance from some source. Unfortunately such an 
inheritance is the good fortune of but few. As the 
author does not believe in the active co-operation of 
gods in our affairs at any time or in any manner, he has 
come to the conclusion that men must help themselves, 
if they wish to be helped at all. 

The author is in favor of peace at all times and with 
all men ; he is opposed to war and conquest under any 
circumstances. At this late day, with the condition of 
the world as it is, and civilization advanced as it is, there 



INTRODUCTORY. 



13 



can be no excuse or apology for war, except among peo- 
ple who are content to be called savages. There is no 
occasion or justification for conflicts between individuals, 
and still less is there any excuse or apology to be offered 
for wars between nations. 

There being no (rod according to the New Dispensa- 
tion — no use for Grod in the affairs of life, and no place 
to put a Grod if we could find him — we must go on as if 
there were no Grod, and as if there had been none since 
creation dawned. As we have no Grod, of course we 
have no Devil. Everybody admits that the Old Devil 
has been dead and gone a long time, and no one now 
mentions his name except to be facetious or to speak by 
way of irony. Of course dispensing with both Grod and 
the Devil must lead to a new faith in all the walks of 
life. It must lead, as it has led, to a New Dispensation. 
Now we have no witches, no demons, no angels, no 
spirits, no strange beings to disturb us at any time. 
The result, naturally enough, is revolutionary in charac- 
ter. Having no tutelary gods or goddesses any more, 
we are obliged to attend to our own affairs. Instead of 
praying for what we want, we have learned to work for 
it, and we find that this way is a great deal better and 
more satisfactory than the other way. The condition is 
plainly before us. We must work and save, or we must 
eventually starve. No praying, no sacrifice, no acts of 
devotion of any kind will help us out of that dilemma — 
it wants work, it wants our work, and not the work of 
somebody else. Providence may take care of the 
sparrows, and he may clothe the lilies, but he does not 
seem inclined to turn a hand or move a foot, or even to 
nod his head, to change the tide of affairs for man's 
especial benefit. Doubtless he thinks that he has done 
enough for man in the past, and that others are more in 
need of his assistance than man is just now. And if so, 
the author begs to remark that he agrees with him fully. 



14 



INTRODUCTORY. 



If men cannot, or rather will not work, why should they 
not starve ? They certainly will, if they depend upon 
receiving any help from God or his angels. Unfortu- 
nately, as already indicated, there are no such beings to 
aid us, and so it is not the part of a wise man to look for 
help from any source so uncertain as that. 

No doubt in past ages, when people were ignorant and 
lacked experience, they needed a Grod to lead and govern 
them. Now, however, they have reason and the light 
of experience to guide them ; they have papers and 
books and the history of the world before them, with all 
its past misfortunes and mistakes to warn them. What 
need have they of a Grocl or a Devil, or even of angels or 
demons ? None, absolutely none. 

The mystery of this world and its creation — its his- 
tory, its purpose, its plan — the author is free to say he 
does not know, and he does not even care to know. It 
is a problem far too deep for him to solve, and he does 
not bother even to make the attempt. The mission of 
man he does not know, and whether man has a mission, 
he is quite uncertain. About heaven and hell he is 
stupidly ignorant, as most other people are ; and whether 
there is a heaven or a hell, is a matter that in his mind 
has never yet been determined. About a future life, 
and whether there is such a state or not, he is also in 
complete ignorance. But that does not worry him in the 
least. He is never disposed to quarrel or contend with 
his ignorance ; he is content to take things as he finds 
them. He is resolved to have his regular rest, even if 
there are so many problems that he is not able to solve. 
He will not rack his brain over enigmas that have turned 
the heads of so many men for so many generations. To 
a large extent he follows his natural instincts ; but he 
never fails to consult his reason, when important ques- 
tions are to be decided. 

The author does not pretend that what is contained in 



INTRODUCTORY. 



15 



this book is truth for eternity. There is no truth for 
eternity — there is nothing for eternity- — there could be 
none. Truth is only the phase under which things ap- 
pear to us to-day. We change as our days multiply, 
and when we change, all the things with which we come 
in contact take a different hue in our eyes and assume a 
different aspect. This book is written for the present 
era only, or possibly for several centuries to come, and 
not for all time. There is nothing in all this world that 
shall not eventually be replaced by something newer and 
perhaps better. The author does not claim that all he 
teaches is practicable at the present time. He merely 
says that it is true, and others may make such use of his 
teachings as they choose. Above all things, he teaches 
the doctrine of Individuality, Self-reliance, and Inde- 
pendence for all mankind. These things ought to be 
practicable, even if they are not. He teaches the good 
and wholesome doctrine of liberty — Liberty not for one 
alone, or even for a select and favored few, but liberty 

FOR ALL MANKIND, IN ALL LANDS AND FOR ALL TIMES. 
Surgo ut prosim. 



In this connexion, a bit of the author's history is given, 
not because it is supposed to be remarkable, or in any 
sense peculiar, but for just the opposite reason. His 
history is everybody's history, with a few unimportant 
variations ; or, at least, it is the history of every man 
born and growing to manhood, like himself, in what is 
denominated civilized life. His history is the history of 
all mankind. In this book he is not speaking for him- 
self nor about himself — he is talking for the good of the 
race. His own achievements and his individual history 
are, in themselves, not worth mentioning. His story, in 
in his own words, runs as follows : 



16 



INTRODUCTORY. 



For all practical purposes, I was born a slave; every 
creature that is helpless is a slave, by the very force of 
circumstances. Even after I could walk and talk, I was 
still kept in confinement and placed under subjection as 
before. I was guided, guarded, . buffeted about and re- 
strained as if I was nobody's boy. My masters pretended 
that all this was done for my ultimate good, but I would 
rather have had my liberty and gone about seeking my 
own salvation, even if I never found it. I was constantly 
assured that I knew nothing, and therefore I needed the 
protection of others. I found no difficulty at all in secur- 
ing protectors, because , the world, if not the woods, is 
full of them. Protection seems to be the harp of a 
thousand strings; I have heard people talk about pro- 
tection since the day that I first began to understand the 
English language; and before I heard it in English, I 
heard it in German. My family protected me, the nurse 
protected me, the teachers protected me, society pro- 
tected me, and Grod protected me. Indeed, everybody 
with whom I came in contact had a patronizing manner, 
and they all seemed determined to keep me continually 
under their tender, fostering care. I was so weak, so 
frail, so feeble, they said ! Hence everything was done 
for me ; in my early days I was fed with a spoon, and 
the wonder is that they have not kept up the practice to 
the present time. Without their help I ran great risk 
of doing myself some permanent injury. "When I get 
old and still more helpless than I am now, I am sure 
they will come around with the spoon again, because I 
will be so feeble ! Besides, as I advance in years and 
reach the prescribed age, I will not be presumed to know 
anything. About that time I will be in my dotage, or 
something of that character. Who knows but they may 
send me to the poorhouse or some insane hospital? 
That has often been done merely to get a person out of 
the way. If I happen to have some money laid up, they 



INTRODUCTORY. 



17 



will want to handle it themselves, just for the sake of 
my protection ; and if I do not happen to have any 
money laid up, why, who is going to take care of me ? 
That has been a serious question for a great many peo- 
ple, and it is a serious question still. 

What is remarkable in my case, and I presume in the 
case of others in a similar situation, is that I cannot cut 
myself loose from the leading strings that restrain me. I 
always find myself tied to somebody in some way. If 
I am taken out for a walk, I am always led out by a 
string and drawn in from time to time, as if I were 
merely somebody's dog. I must not do anything that is 
not lawful. I am constantly reminded to " keep off the 
grass." I am constrained to go here, and I am forbidden 
to go there. I seem to be in constant danger of hurt- 
ing myself in some way, and that is the reason why peo- 
ple are so careful to watch and guard me. I am re- 
minded that it is (rod's will ; everything is done in the 
name of God and to please the Deity. Strange as it 
may seem, this condition of utter helplessness, this state 
of bondage and know-nothingness on my part has con- 
tinued from my infancy down to the present moment, 
I have always found somebody who knew, or who pre- 
tended to know, more than I did. Suppose I did not 
like it — and I certainly did not — what should I do 
about it? What could I do? In every case I found 
somebody who was stronger than myself, and if he were 
not strong enough alone, he combined with others, as 
they do in trusts, and they came after me in squads or 
by platoons. In early life it was a woman with a slipper 
or a stick that exercised authority over men, with the 
design of making a man of me ; as I grew older and 
finally went to school, it was a man with a stronger arm 
and a bigger stick that did the business. Later in life, 
it was a man in blue clothes, with a club in his hand or 
a gun on his shoulder. Under such circumstances 



18 



INTRODUCTORY. 



prudence is better than valor. Of course I submitted. 
What would have been the sense in doing otherwise 
under the circumstances ? What I did everybody does, 
and that is how it comes that we have so much protec- 
tion all around us. 

Both in school and out I was crammed with what was 
called facts and knowledge. 1 was taught creeds and 
theories till I could hold no more, some of which I ac- 
cepted unqualifiedly, and some with a mental reserva- 
tion. But whether I believed or not, I had to swallow 
my medicine and conduct myself like a little man. I 
was not allowed to investigate for myself ; I had to 
follow the text book, because what was not in the text 
book was no good at all. There had to be authority for 
everything I said or did. If I had not followed the text 
book, I could not have " passed the Kegents," and if I 
had not passed the Regents, what in the world would 
have become of me? I would not have known any- 
thing, and I could not have gotten a position anywhere. 

This state of " mutual dependence " lasted till I was 
twenty-one years old. That is the law in this and some 
other countries. But it was not the law in Rome. There 
a man never became of age, and his father, so long as he 
lived, was always the master. The Romans were by far 
the most consequent in this matter, for if the father ever 
has authority over his son, he should always have it. 
I do not happen to believe that he ever has it, with any 
justice or propriety. After I was twenty-one, I sup- 
posed I should be liberated and should be allowed at 
last to do somewhat as I pleased. But it did not happen 
to be so in my case, and it does not happen so in the case 
of any one. What did happen was that I merely changed 
masters. At that time the state took charge of me, and 
I have remained in that humble, dependent condition 
ever since. I am not supposed to know anything, or to 
be anybody worth noticing. My course in life is care- 



INTRODUCTORY. 



19 



fully mapped out for me in the beginning. I am tied 
like an ox to a stake that has been driven into the 
ground. I am allowed full liberty, to go the length of 
my rope, but not an inch further. Everything that I 
may do and everything that I must leave undone is care- 
fully set forth in the statute books. In these books, acts 
that I should consider innocent and harmless are declared 
to be crimes, and I must govern myself accordingly. 
I would have no idea what bad things were, if the 
statutes did not inform me. So the badness is not in 
the act itself, but in the statutes. 

I am allowed to think that I own property, but as a 
matter of fact I do not own a cent. What I imagined 
that I owned for a long time, I now find belongs to the 
state. The state owns everything ; it even owns me and 
everybody else in the country. I cannot do anything, 
even the simplest thing, without authority from the 
state — in other words, a permit. If I should fancy a 
miss, and the attraction proved to be mutual, I could 
not possibly marry the girl without asking the aid of the 
state and securing a permit. If I should undertake to 
marry without observing all these formalities, I would 
soon find that I had gotten myself into trouble. Mv 
children, if I had any, would be illegitimate, with all that 
the term implies. A marriage without the sanction of 
the state is no marriage at all. 

Among the first books put into my hands was the 
Bible. I was told it was a holy book and I must believe 
all it contained. In this book I read about the creation 
and the deluge, Eve and the serpent, Jonah and the 
whale, Moses and the prophets and many other people. 
I was told to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, 
which I always did, though for the life of me I never 
could see any difference between Sundays and any other 
day. Indeed, there were many things in the Bible that 
seemed to me strange and unaccountable, but I swallowed 



20 



INTRODUCTORY. 



everything that was given me and never muttered a word. 
I was assured that this was my duty, and if I did not 
do my duty, I could not go to Heaven and dwell with 
the angels. 

The foregoing is the course pursued in my case, and 
I think it is the one generally followed in all families. 
As I have intimated, I was born a slave, and I have 
been kept a slave down to the present day. It does not 
go by the name of slavery, but that is the proper term 
to apply under such a state of things. Every man who 
has a master must necessarily be a slave, for there can be 
no masters without slaves. A man must have masters, 
it is said, so as to keep him in the straight and narrow 
way. I remonstrated and protested from time to time 
about being kept in bondage in that way, but my pro- 
testations were without avail. The current of the age 
was against me, and I was against the current of the age. 
I was born too early in the season or too late — and either 
way is bad enough. I am out of all harmony with the 
age in which I am called upon to live. I do not ap- 
prove of its methods nor of the means by which its re- 
sults are secured. I do not like its institutions, nor do I 
admire some of the men and women by whom these in- 
stitutions are conducted. No doubt I am a misfit in this 
world, but that is something I cannot help. It is merely 
my misfortune. Perhaps the world itself is a misfit. 
Nevertheless I adhere to my opinions, and I am deter- 
mined to maintain my individuality cost what it will. 
No power in the world can prevent me from thinking, 
and thinking as I choose. My opinions happen to be 
one thing that my masters cannot take from me. Even 
the state and God himself, if God there be, are equally 
powerless in this direction. There are plenty of things that 
God and the state cannot do, and this happens to be one 
of them. Neither the state nor God can make black white, 
because neither has the power to do impossible things. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



21 



How is it that anybody, even the most promising in- 
dividual, should ever become a true man? How could 
he ever have a thought or wish that he could call his 
own ? How could he ever change, ever develop or im- 
prove ? How could he ever make progress in any way ? 
How advance in science, in art, or in invention ? It is 
one of the most mysterious things in the history of hu- 
manity that a man born a slave, and kept and continued 
as a slave, should ever become anything else than a 
slave. It is one of the problems that I never could 
solve. It would seem that mentally and morally I 
ought to be a duplicate of my parents, my teachers, my 
masters. If my parents were Methodists, as they were, 
I ought to be a Methodist also ; if my teachers were 
Socialists or Quakers, I ought also to be a Socialist or 
Quaker all the days of my life. But somehow it did 
not happen to be so in my case. I was never really 
emancipated, it is true, but the time finally came when 
I had (secretly, I must confess) a few thoughts of my 
own. These few thoughts eventually developed other 
thoughts, and by continuing this process and making 
efforts which lasted over half a century, I; came finally 
*to certain conclusions, some of which will be found pre- 
sented in this book. 

It may not be amiss to intimate, in conclusion, that 
the foregoing is intended as a parody on Protection. 
However, it is to be hoped that the reader will find that 
it contains more truth than poetry. 



The author might explain that while his views on 
religious questions are not, and for a long time have not 
been, strictly orthodox, still he has never been at vari- 
ance with the professing Christian. In fact he has never 
been at variance with any sect or party. He has always 
had the utmost regard for what others believe, and he 



22 



INTRODUCTORY. 



has never had any sympathy with men who, like In- 
gersoll and others, make it a business to belittle and 
ridicule the beliefs of those who do not happen to think 
as they themselves think. If we desire and demand 
liberty of thought and expression for ourselves, should 
we not be willing to grant as much to others? The 
author does not believe in the application of force to 
secure conviction or to mend people's ways ; he does 
not believe in urging or pressing a man to accept what 
he does not choose of his own free will to accept ; nor 
does he believe in insulting or ridiculing people because 
of the novelty, peculiarity, or supposed absurdity of 
their creed. It should not be forgotten that what we 
place so high an estimate upon to-day as advanced 
thought, is certain, a few centuries hence, to be regarded 
as heathenish and nonsensical in the extreme. As to 
the church, he recognizes the fact that a large share of 
professing Christians are well-disposed and worthy men. 
The main difference between them and him is that they 
are more inclined than he is to anchor to the past. How- 
ever, he was brought up in the church, and he has al- 
ways worked with it — sometimes from the inside, and 
sometimes from the outside. He is always ready to 
unite his efforts with any body of men who strive or aim 
to do good, even if they are not always successful, 
(rood may be found everywhere. What is evil for one, 
is good for another ; evils are often found to be blessings 
when better understood. There is no Devil any more. 
Devils have become an extinct race — and even gods are 
not seen and known as of old. It is men alone who sur- 
vive, and all the work that was formerly supposed to be 
done by devils and gods is now done by men — by men 
alone. 

Peace, not a sword, is the teaching of the New Dispen- 
sation. 

Newark, N. Y., Jan., 1901. 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

It does move. — Galileo. 

If the world did not move, there would be no progress, 
and everything would remain in statu quo. But the fact 
that the world does move, is something that every one 
perceives and realizes. Humanity is rapidly progressing. 
It is moving constantly onward and upward. In human 
affairs things have changed greatly within a hundred, 
nay, within fifty, or even twenty-five years. However, 
the change will be found more striking if we go back 
five hundred or a thousand years. 

In no direction have changes been more pronounced 
than in the domain of religion. A few hundred years 
ago, in all civilized lands, as well as in lands that are not 
civilized, the domain of religion embraced all the affairs 
of civil and domestic life. To a very great extent, the 
daily life of the people was taken up with religious ob- 
servances. To eat, to sleep, to dream were all religious 
affairs. Eating was particularly a holy proceeding, and 
the devotee really believed that his god was present and 
shared with him in the repast ; and hence, this being the 
prevailing idea, the food was divided, a part being re- 
served for the family and the remainder being sacrificed 
or given to the gods. Fire was also sacred, and some 
living coals were constantly lying upon the family 



24 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



hearth ; and if by some accident the fire became ex- 
tinguished, the event was looked npon as calamitous in 
the extreme. For the people in those days, in such a 
case, the god of the family had departed, and they felt 
themselves abandoned. 

For the ancient Greeks and Romans, a people as cul- 
tured and advanced as ourselves, every family, every 
house, had its own gods. But with us the case is differ- 
ent. We have but one God — the God of the universe. 
He is everywhere in general and nowhere in particular. 
But we might as well have no Grod, for we never can 
find him when an emergency arises and his presence is 
most needed. Among the ancients, the dead were al- 
ways regarded as gods, and religion originally, in all 
countries, was simply worship of the dead, or the adora- 
tion of ancestors. China to-day has no other gods and 
no other religion. Of a God in our sense they know 
nothing. The dead are always regarded as living, 
existing, though invisible. For them the tomb is the 
home of the dead ; it is their final resting place. This 
was and still is the prevailing idea in Egypt. It was a 
common thing among the ancients, as it still is in some 
countries, for food to be left regularly for the dead and 
for libations to be poured upon the graves. The people 
fully believed that the dead must be fed as well as the 
living. The ancients worshiped everything that was 
known to be old. 

De Coulanges truly says, in his work entitled "The 
Ancient City " : "In time of peace and in time of war 
religion intervened in all the affairs of men. The soul, 
the body, private life, the repast, the feast, the assem- 
blies, the tribunals, the combats, all came under the 
power and authority of religion." No great undertak- 
ing was entered upon without making certain sacrifices 
and invoking the aid of the gods. Indeed, this is no un- 
common thing in modern times ; nations frequently in- 



ADVANCE IN THOUGHT. 



25 



voke the aid of God, especially when triey feel that they 
have entered upon an undertaking that is more than 
usually hazardous. But how much assistance is ever 
obtained from such a source in these cases, remains a 
matter of dispute. 

Among the ancients there were no affiliations with 
strangers ; the stranger was not recognized as having 
any rights at all. His gods were not their gods. This 
was particularly true of enemies. According to the ideas 
that prevailed a thousand or two thousand years ago, 
an enemy had no rights, and if beaten or captured, he 
was killed without compunction and without formality. 
We have to-day precisely the same ideas with regard to 
•criminals and convicts — but we will change them some 
day or other. At present we are not able to perceive 
that we have any relations to them, or that they are even 
entitled to fair treatment at our hands. To shoot a mur- 
derer, a robber or a thief caught in the act is, even at 
this late day, supposed to be rather meritorious than 
■otherwise. The Bible inculcates such doctrines as these. 
It teaches that usury is wicked, except where the 
stranger is the victim. " If a thief be found breaking 
up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be 
shed for him. 1 ' — Ex. 22:2. In other words, the thief has 
no rights, and he gets what he deserves, according to our 
Holy Scriptures. That is what the English thought 
some years ago, and so when they caught a thief they 
hung him with very little ceremony. 

In olden times, the world was filled with spirits, and 
it was impossible, especially in the night time, to go any- 
where without incurring the risk of encountering some 
one of these nocturnal wanderers. Ghosts and spirits of 
every kind, both good and evil, angels, demons, devils 
and witches, are not as common and as troublesome now 
as they were, but there are plenty of them left even at 
the present moment. However, intelligent and sensible 



26 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



people are rapidly coming to the conclusion that there 
are no such things as spirits, either living or dead. Peo- 
ple latterly do not consult the auguries as the old Ro- 
mans did. They keep no fire burning on the altar, and 
most of them have no altar for that or any other purpose ; 
and as to feeding and worshiping the dead, they do not 
even find time to mow the grass and weeds that cumber 
the graves of their ancestors. That is the difference in 
people and the times. Very few now believe that the 
grave is really the resting place of the dead, or that the 
survivors can be of service in any way to their relatives 
and friends after death has removed them. There is 
very little religion at the present day, and such as we 
have is extremely attenuated and of a very worldly 
character. People who have practically ceased to be- 
lieve in a God cannot properly be said to possess any 
religion. 

It may be noted, in closing this hasty review of wor- - 
ship and devotion, that religion is simply what people 
believe ; and, again, what peoples believe is merely so 
many phases of religion. Among the Greeks and Ro- 
mans, as we have seen, religion was not only the chief 
thing, but almost the sole thing that received serious 
consideration. The people believed that they were sur- 
rounded with gods, as our people not many years since 
believed they were surrounded by spirits, demons, witches 
and angels, both friendly and hostile. Their whole life 
was governed and controlled by fear — fear of displeasing 
some patron god. If they displeased their deity, they 
imagined that they would be abandoned and that serious 
harm would certainly befall them. We that live in this 
godless, riteless age of ours can have no idea how fully 
and how deeply religion entered into all the affairs of 
life, both civil and domestic, among the ancients. Noth- 
ing was done or attempted without first consulting the 
gods in order to learn what the oracles declared, or to 



ADVANCE IN THOUGHT. 



27 



ascertain what the omens indicated. We know very 
well at this late day, that all the wonderful work which 
was done, as the ancients supposed, by their gods, was 
done by proxy. It was all the work of common men 
who were concealed behind the scenes. The people were 
duped and fooled, as people are duped and fooled to-day. 
We know very well that there are no communications 
from Grod, or the gods, and no Grod, or gods, from whom 
communications could come. So there are no mandates 
that come from the state, and there is no state from 
which mandates could come in the first place. Men, 
common men, conduct the whole business in both cases, 
that of the gods and that of the state. Men are the 
oracles ; men are the gods; men are the state. Men send 
forth the commands, and men lay down the laws in all 
cases. 

While it is true that our greatest changes have taken 
place in the domain of religion, changes nearly as notice- 
able and quite as important have taken place in other 
departments. In fact when people change their views 
on matters of religion, they will necessarily change their 
views finally on all the affairs of life. A great change 
has taken place in matters that pertain to the family. 
The wife for centuries and centuries has held the posi- 
tion in the family of the faithful and obedient servant. 
The father, or the husband, has been alone the lord and 
master. The children have been looked upon as mere 
things — they have had and they could have no rights. 
Even the right to live was in many cases denied them, 
when the father had too many children or had those that 
he did not consider worth preserving. In such cases 
they were promptly disposed of in any way that was 
found most convenient. They were often sold into 
slavery. The father was alone worshiped ; he was the 
god, or at least the high priest of the family. The 
father was the original type of all our kings and sov- 



28 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



ereigns. Even God himself was simply a father ; he was 
the creator and procreator of ns all, and men owed 
obedience to God simply because he was their father. As 
a matter of course, the being to whom men owe life or 
existence is the one to whom they owe practically every- 
thing. If men had not been begotten, they would never 
have been anything. That is the theory at least in this 
case of the father and the child. The family was looked 
upon as a crop which had been raised by the father, and 
therefore it properly belonged to him exclusively. 

In no field have there been greater changes in the 
sentiments of men than in those regarding punishment 
for offences. tJntil the last few decades, life was held at 
a very low estimate, and a man was sent to kingdom 
come for what we would now consider a trifling offence. 
In England not longer than one hundred years ago, there 
were one hundred and seventy offences for which a man 
might be tried, convicted and finally hanged. 

It is not long since men not only believed in kings, 
but they really imagined that they were infallible, just 
as they had been taught in their childhood that the 
father of the family was infallible. As rulers were 
looked upon as gods, everything that they did or com- 
manded was deemed to be necessarily just and proper. 
No one would for a moment allow himself to get into a 
controversy with a god, and as kings and rulers were 
gods, all their acts, their decrees, orders and ordinances 
were regarded as holy, and as such they were unhesitat- 
ingly obeyed. 

But on these and many other matters people have 
come to have improved views and advanced notions of 
their own.' They have almost discarded religion, be- 
cause they find no use for it in ordinary life. Even God 
has become a negative quantity, and the state, a strictly 
human contrivance, is taking the place and doing the 
work that belonged formerly to God exclusively. At 



ADVANCE IN THOUGHT. 



29 



this late day, no one thinks of feeding God, and few 
deem it important to adore him, or to offer up sacrifices to 
appease him. In fact very few seem to have any nse 
for God in any way. Most men have lost all confidence 
in the Supreme Being, and they do not ask him for favors, 
because they have learned that prayers and petitions are 
unavailing. A wonderful amount of self-confidence 
seems to prevail among men at the present day, and 
everybody imagines that he is capable of attending to 
his own affairs and running his own business without 
receiving assistance or direction from any unknown God. 
It is true that churches have been and are being built, 
and they are being used, but not strictly for the worship 
of God. It is true that churches were used for that pur- 
pose formerly, but that was quite a number of years ago. 
In the churches of the present day, we do not exactly 
worship the golden calf, but we do worship the golden 
candlesticks and the golden church organ. We do not 
sing praises unto God, as formerly, but we hire star 
performers to sing praises unto the congregation at so 
much per Sunday. To tell the plain truth, there are 
many who believe that God has not been inside of one of 
our churches within the last quarter of a century. At 
least we have never heard of a person who has seen him 
there, or even heard his voice. It is probable that he 
has gone "to walk in a tent or tabernacle," as he did of 
old. No, people do not go to church to worship God or 
commune with him. They go there to take comfort and 
enjoy themselves. This fact is so patent and so well 
understood, that churches are never expected to draw a 
crowd unless they are rendered attractive in some 
worldly way. Sometimes it is the eloquent and glib- 
tongued preacher that fills the pews and loads the con- 
tribution plate ; and sometimes it is the star singer or the 
saxophone. God himself, in his pristine simplicity,, has 
ceased to be an attraction, and for that reason latterly his 



30 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



name never appears on the bills. Indeed, God's name is 
rarely mentioned in any connexion, except when oaths 
are uttered. 

But if people's minds and their views of things can 
change as has thus far been indicated, during a century 
or so past, why should they stop where they are and ad- 
vance no farther ? It is not to be supposed for one mo- 
ment that they will. A people that have gone so far 
will not rest contented until they have gone farther ; a 
people that have risen so high and observed so much as 
they have will never be satisfied until they have taken 
still loftier nights and made still greater discoveries. Men 
who live at the close of the nineteenth century can have 
no conception of the advancement that will be made in 
the domain of thought during the twentieth that is now 
dawning. 

It would seem that religion, like superstition, belongs 
to an age of obscurity and ignorance. People always 
worship unknown gods, and they worship them solely 
because they fear them and dread their power. As peo- 
ple become older, more advanced, more enlightened and 
better acquainted with the ways and workings of nature, 
they find less and less use for religion. They fear less, 
they worship less, they sacrifice less. As men become 
stronger, they find less and less use for God ; they de- 
pend more upon themselves and upon their own unaided 
efforts. Finally, as they gain more and more light, they 
come to see that there is no God of the universe, in any 
proper sense, at least so far as the common affairs of 
life are concerned. So long as God dwelt among men, 
consoled them in their troubles and aided them in their 
contests, he was a real, living God, and there was some 
sense in worshiping and adoring him. But that was 
in early Bible times. Long since God withdrew from the 
society of men ; he is seen and heard no more ; he can- 
not be approached, he cannot be moved, he cannot be 



ADVANCE IN THOUGHT. 



31 



propitiated, he cannot even be discovered. Such a God 
might as well not exist, and it is for this reason that the 
age has become practically godless. Worship has been 
found to be worthless, useless, powerless, and therefore 
it has generally been discarded or rejected. We con- 
tinue to have houses of worship, it is true, but they 
are places of worship only in name. It is a common 
phenomenon in human affairs for men to continue forms, 
ceremonies and observances long after they have lost 
their force and significance. The seal on some legal 
documents and the oath taken in case of affidavits are 
illustrations in this direction. We are doing the same 
thing to-day in matters of religion. The Romans and 
the Greeks did the same thing in the closing days of 
paganism. They kept up pagan forms, and observed 
ceremonies of various kinds long after they had lost all 
confidence in both the ceremonies and the gods. 

The death knell of religion was sounded when Martin 
Luther nailed his famous theses on the church door at 
Wittenberg. Protestantism never was a religion— it was, 
as the term implies, a protest against religion. Religion 
is something that thrives so long as people do not study 
and inquire. Religion is the one plant that cannot en- 
dure the light. Faith is man's chief reliance only so 
long as he is struggling in darkness. Religion is not 
opposed to reason ; it is independent of reason. Religion 
is a matter strictly of belief, and belief is not necessarily 
associated with reason. AYith ignorant men, belief is 
stronger than it is among those who are enlightened. 
Reason makes men doubt and hesitate ; ignorance renders 
them confident and contumacious. 

Unbelief was not the effect of Protestantism. It was 
the cause. Luther himself was only a phenomenon. 
As a development, he merely marked the tendency of 
the age. Luther was by no means the only independent 
thinker of the sixteenth century ; he was simply the 



32 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



boldest, bravest of tliem all ; he was the one who was 
firmest in his convictions and most inflexible in his 
purposes. What he resolved to do he would do, 
though the heavens fell. He dreaded the Devil, and yet 
he resisted him to the last. His was a powerful agency 
constantly kept in action by the sole force of an idea. 
He was not pious in the proper sense of the term, but 
he was upright ; Luther was at least no impostor. He 
had powerful friends ; they were men in authority, and 
that made a vast difference in his case. Without the 
support of such friends, he would have been burned long 
before the time when his career finally ended. 

The moment people began to read and inquire, the mo- 
ment they began to ask questions, that moment the de- 
cline of religion began. Religious observances have con- 
tinued down to the present time simply because there 
are so few people who find the time and have the incli- 
nation to study and inquire. They find it so much 
easier and so much more comfortable to hire men to do 
their studying and thinking for them that they eschew 
serious inquiry altogether. Men formed the habit of de- 
pending on the priests centuries since, and a habit once 
formed and firmly established is not easily overcome. 
This is the reason, and the only reason why we have, 
even among cultured people, what may be called a simi- 
litude of religion to-day. 

And here we might explain that there is not such a 
radical difference in religions as many people might sup- 
pose. They differ in forms, ceremonies and externals, 
but in principle they are practically the same. They are 
all alike the product of fear ; they all come from the 
dread of the unknown. Worship in all of them consists 
in making sacrifices to spirits or agencies that they never 
see, and about which they know absolutely nothing. 
Men sacrificed to their gods in the past just as people 
buy patent medicines so freely to-day. They hope they 

2 



ADVANCE IN THOUGHT. 



33 



may do some good. The history of all religions has 
been precisely the same, whether pagan or otherwise. 
The cultus has been kept up by an interested set of men 
and women called priests and priestesses. All religions 
have their Levites. These Levites wax fat on sacrifices 
made to the gods, and they make quite a comfortable 
living oat of the devotions of their fellow men. It is so 
to-day ; it was so two thousand, perhaps ten thousand, 
years ago. If we had no ministers, religion would de- 
cline and disappear in short order. No one would have 
any interest in keeping the subject alive. 

It must not be forgotten that the Christian religion, 
like paganism, is simply a form of idolatry. In fact it 
is well known, as a matter of history, that Christianity in 
the early centuries was nothing but paganism in a modi- 
fied form. The pagans worshiped spirits which they had 
never seen and which they did not know. They gave 
them names and forms to suit their own tastes and 
fancies ; and Christians have been doing the same thing 
down to the present time. Indeed, it is impossible to 
worship any being unless we give that being a name and 
a form. When our God ceased to have a place and 
failed to assume some definite shape, he ceased to be a 
God, and naturally enough his worship steadily declined. 
Men cannot worship a formless spirit with success, anv 
more than they can worship a shadow. God the Father 
has now gradually vanished into thin air, and the real 
God that men have been worshiping for some time is 
God the Son. Christ was possessed of a heart, and he 
appeared in the human form. Christ became as one of 
us, and we can adore or worship such a being with some 
sort of consistency. So Christians worship saints and 
angels, as the pagans did. The Catholics worship Mary, 
the mother of Christ, regarding her in the light of a 
goddess. This is sensible, to say the least, because saints 
and angels are more or less tangible or conceivable crea- 



34 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



tures — but, after all, it must not be forgotten that this is 
only another form of idolatry. All worship is, and nec- 
essarily must be, idolatrous in character. 

All religions are alike in promulgating the doctrine of 
humility and submission. The spirit they develop or 
cultivate is a slavish, cringing spirit. Instead of teach- 
ing men to depend upon themselves and upon their own 
exertions, they teach them to obey and worship some 
higher being — first, a being called God, and afterward 
some king or master. The devotees of all religions 
prostrate themselves, because they know and feel that 
they are slaves. Not one of them holds up his head and 
deports himself like a man. People who really believed 
that they were made in the image of God would not act 
in any such manner. 

If we had no religion, we should have no slaves, no 
property in any form ; or at least there would be no 
foundation for the claim to hold slaves or to own prop- 
erty. The less religion there is in the world, the more 
rapidly will freedom advance. It must be remembered, 
however, that the gods never trouble men, never punish 
men, never even threaten men. It is the interpreters 
and intermediaries, the Levites, acting in the name of the 
gods, that are the direct or indirect cause of most of the 
oppression experienced at the present day. They are 
the ones who make the most out of the disturbance, and 
what they do in most cases is done from motives of pure 
selfishness. The object generally kept in view is per- 
sonal aggrandizement. Indeed, we know, at this late 
date, that there are no gods, and it is a sham and a fraud 
to pretend for a moment that such beiDgs exist. The 
people are misled and deceived by the cunning managers 
who, with their artful contrivances, remain hidden be- 
hind the curtain. It is these managers — not spirits by 
any means, but live men — that are the source and cause 
of all the trouble. They are the ones who seek to live, 



ADVANCE IN THOUGHT. 



35 



and who do live, on the delusions of mankind. They 
are mere artists, sleight-of-hand performers, and nothing 
more. It is so in religion, and so in affairs of state. 
Eeligion has become merely a piece of mechanism, with 
cogs and wheels and power to run it ; and the state is 
managed on the same principle. 

Gralileo was right — the world does move. The world 
has moved for thousands, perhaps millions of years ; and 
the sun has risen and set, and risen and set, regularly 
and constantly during all that time. Shall we, in our 
self-sufficiency and supposed wisdom, now declare that 
the world will not continue to move, and the sun will 
not continue to rise and set, as before ? Shall there be 
no change in the sentiments of men hereafter ? We re- 
member what wonderful revolutions have taken place in 
the creeds and customs of men in the past. Shall there 
be no such revolutions in the ages to come ? Have we 
reached the point of perfection at last ? Has the print- 
ing press lost its power, and must the mind of man re- 
main inert and unprogressive forever ? Is there some- 
thing in the faith of mankind that is sacred and 
immutable, something that criticism cannot reach, or if 
reached, something that it cannot possibly assail ? If so, 
what may it be ? If there be something that the world 
always has believed, always must believe and always 
will believe, it is time that its existence were made 
known, so that its claims might be acknowledged and 
its value duly appreciated. The author does not believe 
there ever was such a truth. 



What is embodied in this chapter, together with what 
is contained in the Introduction, might be called the 
statement of the author's case. The foregoing pages will 
enable the intelligent reader to form a fair idea of the 
positions taken in the work ; and if he has perused them 
carefully, he will be able to understand and estimate 
properly what is spread out more elaborately, if not more 
convincingly, in the pages that follow. 



CHAPTER II. 



And the Lord gave unto Moses, when he had 
made an end of communing with him upon 
Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of 
stone, written with the finger of God. — Ex. 31:18. 

The laic of Moses does not concern us, and we 
are not to look to the examples in the history of 
the saints, much less of the kings, to their faith, 
and to God's commandments. — Luther. 

Very few at the present time regard the Bible as really 
a sacred book, or as a book that is essentially different 
from many other books, which contain, as the Bible 
does, together with many good things, many other things 
that are open to objection. It conld not be called in any 
literal or actnal sense the word of God, for we know that 
there is not, and never has been, a God that could com- 
municate with man, or any such being with whom man 
could communicate in any way, by wireless telegraphy or 
in some other manner. What we have been calling the 
word of God all along we now know is really the word 
of men, ordinary men like ourselves. No doubt the 
writers of the chapters contained in the book felt them- 
selves inspired, just as men feel themselves inspired at 
the present time. If men actually thought the Bible 
was a holy book, essentially different from all other 
books, they would handle it more tenderly, and they 
would hold it in higher regard than they do other books. 
But as it is now, we treat it as the commonest and most 



THE BIBLE. 



37 



uninteresting of works. It is the cheapest book in 
market ; we can buy a whole Bible containing all that 
God ever wrote, all that it is pretended that he wrote, 
and a great deal more, for a few shillings ! Everybody 
considers the binding and the paper of much greater 
importance than the contents of this Holy Book ! And 
yet it is well known that the binding and the paper are 
two things that God never had anything to do with. No 
one pretends that God was ever engaged in the binding 
business. The Jews who sincerely believed in the sa- 
credness of the Scriptures read their sacred scrolls and 
handled them as if they actually believed that they con- 
tained a message direct from God. Our practice is dif- 
ferent. 

Assuming, as men seem to do, that the Bible is an 
ordinary book, being the production of ordinary men, 
we are at liberty to judge of it and criticise it as we 
would other books. What value it has depends solely 
upon its intrinsic merits, and the supposed character and 
standing of its various authors has nothing to do with 
the question. It is well known that the Bible is not a 
complete book, but merely a collection of writings, with- 
out anything like order, system or plan. It is quite im- 
possible that such widely varying teachings and such 
contradictory doctrines as that book is known to contain 
could ever have come from any one source. It contains 
no code that might be called either legal, religious or 
moral. It does not teach men either how to live or how 
to die. It is simply a disorganized mass, chaotic in all 
respects, a confused jumble of important and unimport- 
ant matters all commingled together. What is taught in 
one chapter and one verse is contradicted in another 
chapter and another verse ; while in several cases large 
portions are repeated with little or no variation. It is a 
curious fact that the authorship of no one chapter of 
that great book is positively known ; who wrote this 



38 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



book and who wrote that, no one can tell. None of the 
original manuscripts can be found ; all we have, and all 
that it is pretended that we have, is copies — even the 
Bible itself is only a copy, and one that has been changed 
and modified in different places, perhaps ten thousand 
times. It is changing still, and yet there are people who 
pretend to believe that it is wholly the word of God ! 
The authenticity, the divine origin of a single word or 
line in that book, has never yet been demonstrated — it is 
entirely out of the domain of proof. We have taken it 
— everybody has taken it — as we have taken the Chris- 
tian religion, entirely on faith. We have not permitted 
our brain to work at all. A bible coming direct from 
(rod would be a single book, and it would have no 
copies. But of our Bible there are millions of copies ! 
Does any one pretend that there are any authentic 
copies of those tables of stone which God gave to Moses ? 
Even of Joe Smith's bible, there is only one original 
copy. 

No one in his earthly career could follow our holy 
scriptures for any length of time and live. At this late 
day no one pretends to follow them, and yet to hear 
people talk, there are still a great many who have not 
yet lost confidence in the book. They still believe it, 
or affect to believe it — such is the force of habit ! The 
Old Testament and the New Testament, though bound 
together as constituting one volume, are as different in 
character and purpose as any two books could possibly 
be. The former teaches that God is a man ; the latter 
teaches that God is a spirit, with all the mysterious and 
incomprehensible characteristics of spirits generally. 
The former confounds God and the Devil ; or rather 
if it notices a devil at all, it is a devil in his extreme 
infancy. It ignores immortality and lays down rules 
for the guidance of men in this world only. The New 
Testament teaches the speedy coming of the kingdom 



THE BIBLE. 



39 



and the absolute emptiness or nothingness of the present 
world. According to this book all living is for the life 
to come. How could a man follow the Bible, the whole 
Bible, even if he so desired? 

The writings out of which the Bible was formed — tak- 
ing some here, rejecting others there, and being doubt- 
ful as to others still — are over 2,000, perhaps over 3,000, 
years old. Such a book, even on religious topics, must 
in time become antiquated. That is the main objection 
to this book. It is out of date — a back number — a book 
far better suited to the wants of people who lived and 
labored hundreds of years ago than to the wants of people 
who dwell on earth at the present time. People want 
something that is adapted to present wants and present 
modes of thinking, something that meets the emergencies 
of their own individual cases. People begin to see, the 
world sees, that religion, like all else, is progressive and 
it cannot remain stationary. The Bible has ceased to be 
a book of life for mankind ; it is not a safe instructor nor 
a reliable guide for those who live and move and have 
their being in the world as it is found at the present time. 

Our people are not exactly looking for other gods, 
but they are looking for some being or personage that 
shall take the place of the God they have been worship- 
ing all along. The people who are living now are living 
mostly for this world. They find the future world too 
uncertain and too mysterious to justify the wasting of 
time on its further contemplation. They want something 
at the same time tangible and practical, something that 
may be applied in their own individual affairs. They 
want guidance, instruction, encouragement — nothing 
more. They do not want theories and dogmas or specu- 
lation — they have been surfeited with those things in the 
past. They want what will be of service to them in 
common life. They have, to a large extent, ceased to 
believe in ghosts and spirits, and in absurd forms that 



40 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



never had any existence save in the imagination of 
dreaming men. They now pnt their trust solely in ma- 
terial things that belong to this world. They have no 
concern about the world to come. 

But where shall we find our law, if we have no Bible 
upon which we can rely ? For centuries our Bible has 
been looked upon as containing the fundamental law of 
all Christian peoples, as the Koran contains to-day the 
fundamental law for Mahometan peoples. But if we 
have no Bible, upon what shall we place our hopes, and 
where our trust ? There need be no cause for alarm in 
this direction. People can get along, as they have been 
getting along for some time, without any Bible. What 
man has done, man can do. Man has done without this 
book of law for long years, and it is hardly to be doubted 
that he can proceed safely a while longer in the same 
path. Laws are founded, or should be founded, on the 
common sense of individuals, and upon the judgment of 
the community in which men live. Under all circum- 
stances it is men, and men only, who make laws. Even 
when Grod was supposed to make law, it was men, ordi- 
nary men, who were legislating in his name. So it has 
always been, and doubtless always will be. For the 
present at least, let us dispense with invisible beings and 
imaginary existences of all kinds. Things cannot be 
worse, they may be better, under the New Dispensation. 



CHAPTER III. 



I am the Lord, I change not. — Mai. 3:6. 

Ye worship ye know not what. — John 4:22. 

Shall men worship ? Why should men worship ? 
What can they accomplish by making sacrifices, by 
prostrating themselves in the dust, or even by offering 
up affecting prayers in tones that are doleful? The 
world has devoted a great amount of its energies for 
thousands of years to the worship of deities, but to-day, 
in the civilized portions at least, worship has steadily 
declined, until now very little remains that is entitled to 
the name. But who shall say that the people of the 
past who worshiped so much, were any wiser, or more 
prosperous or more virtuous than we, who worship so 
little ? We notice the auguries no more ; we fail to con- 
sult the oracles entirely ; we have no altars in our 
houses, and no hearth upon which the sacred fire is care- 
fully kept alive, as was done by people formerly. For 
all practical purposes we have no gods. We have tem- 
ples, it is true, but not for the worship of God, or gods, 
in any honest or actual sense. Our temples so-called are 
places of meeting merely, where by force of custom peo- 
ple come simply to see and be seen. 

When we come to consider the matter in a sensible 
light, we are led to exclaim : How absurd it is to sacri- 
fice money, time, and even blood to an unseen, unknown 



42 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



and unchangeable being ! We build temples and erect 
altars, for what? What need has an all-powerful God 
of our service, our homage, our blood, our silver and 
gold ? The truth of the business is, we know very well, 
that God does nothing for us in return, and we can be of 
no real service to him. We affect to abhor idolatry, but 
what essential difference is there between worshiping one 
Grod and worshiping a dozen gods ? Wherein does our 
devotion, our worship, our religious observances, materi- 
ally differ from the idolatrous performances of the Greeks 
and Romans two or three thousand years ago ? The 
author fails to see. The number of gods was different, 
it is true, but the rites and ceremonies were essentially 
the same in both cases. 

What is the meaning or purpose of worship, as it is 
practiced by those who believe in heavenly beings ? The 
answer to this question is not difficult to furnish; the 
purpose and motive is plain, no matter what may be the 
particular religion which the devotee accepts, nor what 
he considers to be unquestionably sacred. In all cases 
the worshiper hopes to move Grod in some way and in- 
duce him to change his plans and adopt a course which 
he might not otherwise pursue. But how shall men 
move God ? A question back of that yet, is this : Can 
men move God? And back of that question there is 
still one other question : Is there a God to move ? 

For ages and ages men believed in the existence of a 
movable, changeable, unreliable, irresponsible and ador- 
able being, and even now there are whole peoples who 
fully and confidently accept the same doctrine. It is an 
easy thing indeed for men to believe what they want to 
believe. Nations have their state of infancy precisely as 
an individual has his, and when people are in that state 
of earthly being, they are likely to be overcome with 
awe and inclined to adoration. Nations in this stage of 
existence feel that they need assistance and protection. 



"WORSHIP. 



43 



They see death come and take from them their loved 
ones ; the storm passes by and leaves desolation in its 
path; there is disease to combat, enemies to encounter 
and misfortune to avert. What is more natural than 
that men in this stage of their career should look around 
for some one to aid and defend them ? Nations in their 
infancy, like men in their infancy, believe that there is 
nothing without a cause, and when they see anything 
move, they at once arrive at the conclusion that some- 
body moves it ; and if they fail to find the mover or the 
cause, they naturally conclude that he is somewhere, even 
if he be invisible. Hence it is that where they do not 
see or know the cause, they ascribe the effect to the 
operations of a spirit If a man is sick or mad. they say 
it is the work of a spirit or demon. If the wind blows, a 
spirit moves it and guides it : if misfortune of any kind 
occurs, it is a proof of the wrath of some demon, some 
spirit or god. 

The picture drawn of the children of Israel in the Old 
Testament is a very faithful picture of men in their child 
state generally. They thought, believed, imagined and 
dreaded, just as we might expect children to do under 
precisely similar circumstances. They saw only a very 
little of this world, and they knew very well that there 
must be much in it that they never had seen or known. 
They naturally imagined that somewhere there must be. 
in some dark and unexplored region, some mighty being 
who was infinitely superior to themselves in wisdom and 
strength, a powerful agent who could rule the storms, 
who could either hurl the lightning or withhold the shaft, 
who could send war or prevent its horrors, who could 
cause diseases or furnish a remedy, ayIio could despatch 
the messenger of death or withhold him for a time. 
This is the Grod that the children of Israel believed in — 
and strange to say it is the God that a great many chil- 
dren, both old and young, believe in at the present day. 



44 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



But is this God, this Jehovah of the Jews, essentially 
different from the gods of the Greeks and Eomans, or of 
the old Egyptians, or of the people of India, or indeed of 
any people who believe in a being that is deserving of 
their worship ? 

The children of Israel believed in a God who was 
simply a hero ; he was their champion, their defender, 
and for that reason they worshiped him. How did they 
worship him? Just as all children worship those they 
dread, just as all people worship the deities whose power 
they overvalue. They worshiped him as they would Sam- 
son or Hercules, some powerful ally. They made them- 
selves his slaves ; they tried to ascertain what he de- 
sired, and if they saw no way of evading his commands, 
they faithfully obeyed them. They gave him some- 
thing good to eat and above all they offered him many 
sacrifices. They humbled themselves, they abased them- 
selves, they mutilated themselves, they caused them- 
selves pain and suffering, merely to propitiate the God 
they claimed to love, but whom in fact they merely 
feared. Yery much the same thing is worship all over 
the world to-day. 

The student who brings the different religions of the 
world into comparison is struck by the uniformity that 
exists in the observances, rites, practices and concep- 
tions among various peoples, when they come to worship 
the Supreme Being. The difference is almost wholly in 
non-essentials — in spirit and in principle they are practi- 
cally the same. The American Indian whose home is in 
the forest believes in a Great Spirit, precisely as Christians 
do. He believes that death is only a transference from 
one field to another, and that the departed warrior will 
need his dog, his bow and his arrows in his new home as 
he needed them in the world that he has abandoned. 
The dead among these untutored Indians are laid to rest 
with the most tender care, and they are visited by the 



WOKSHIP. 



45 



survivors, women especially, with striking regularity, 
even choice food being brought for the departed to con- 
sume. Such practices were common among Greeks and 
Eomans, and to a greater or less extent they are followed 
among the eastern nations at the present day. Even 
among ourselves, deficient in religion and devotional feel- 
ing as we confessedly are, there is an ill-defined hope 
that our loved ones are not really gone after all. We 
put flowers on their graves precisely as the Indian 
mother brings out some choice dish and sets it down to 
satisfy the hunger of her departed child. In India the 
belief is not materially different from that of ancient 
Greece and Rome. The people there believe in a plural- 
ity of gods ; their religion is largely a family matter, and 
they worship their ancestors, as is done by so many 
other cultivated people even now. 

It is not at all surprising that religious devotions 
should generally assume the same form or preserve the 
same character, since we may trace the origin of all of 
them to one and the same source. Religions are born 
of want of enlightenment, and they have their origin 
chiefly in fear and doubt. This dread is characteristic 
of the childhood stage of civilization, and it gradually 
disappears as the people increase in years and knowl- 
edge. So long as people are ignorant of the true nature 
and causes of things, they are always timid, superstitious, 
apprehensive and therefore devotional. The least culti- 
vated people, like those of Russia and Turkey, are by 
far the most religious. Rome departed from its ancient 
cultus and became irreligious as it advanced in learning: 
and civilization. It is well known that religion declines 
as science progresses. If people had no fears, they 
would never trouble themselves with worship in any 
form. Men adore G-od simply because they are afraid of 
him and because they are in doubt as to his designs. 
There are many people who worship the Devil for the 



46 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



same reason that others worship Grod. The very mo- 
ment that the danger disappears, people usually cease 
their devotions and go on again in their career of sin. 

If the inquirer will look carefully into the matter, he 
will observe that everything that is done in the way of 
worship is done simply because men are afraid. If peo- 
ple were sure of going to heaven without (rod's help, 
they would not be apt to mind about worshiping him in 
any manner. But ordinarily they realize their own help- 
lessness, and as they do not know what might happen, 
they think it might not be amiss to enlist upon their 
side some powerful ally like the Almighty. Hence they 
occasionally attend church, and perhaps they quietly 
drop a nickel into the hat when that is passed around. 
It is well known that no devotes makes a practice of 
praying to Grod, unless he needs, or soon expects to 
need, some assistance ; and as to the sacrifices that are 
made in different ways, they are all made with the view 
of propitiating a wrathful and powerful Grod and of in- 
ducing him either to grant men a pardon for their sins, 
or at least to allow them a little more time for repentance. 



CHAPTER IV. 



For it is not possible that the blood of balls and 

goats should take away sins. — Heb. 10/4. 

In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou 

hast no pleasure. — Heb. 10:6. 

And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty 

and two thousand oxen and a hundred and 

twenty thousand sheep. — 2 Chron 7:5. 

So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into 

the sea— as a sacrifice — and the sea ceased from 

her raging. — Jonah. 

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an 

abomination unto me. — Is. 1:13. 

Every sacrifice is a scape-goat offered up to save 

others. 

Has the world ever seen greater wickedness than that 
perpetrated by men who imagine that they are acting in 
accordance with the demands of duty ? If there had 
been less said about duty in the past, there would have 
been less suffering among, men. Moses killed three 
thousand of his brethren as a sin-offering to the Lord, 
and in doing so he acted from a pure sense of duty. 
The Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, and the Persians, all 
highly cultivated in their way, were accustomed to burn 
their children. They had been taught that such was 
their duty, and for no better reason than that they also 
buried innocent men alive. It is stated as a matter of 
history that the pious people of the Middle Ages, and 



48 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



their descendants of a later date, burned and sacrificed, 
in the course of a few centuries, nine millions of witches, 
sorcerers and heretics ! The pious people of that pious 
age reveled in the sufferings of men and animals. They 
also were governed by a sense of duty. 

From time immemorial it has been the custom among 
all people, and especially among the Chinese, to make 
sacrifices, and the innocence or the guilt of the victim is 
for them a matter of little concern. All that they want 
is some human being, some life for a sin-offering, a 
scape-goat. And is not the practice very similar to-day 
all over the world ? Read the chapters of Moses, if you 
would ascertain the cause, the true inwardness, of so 
many sacrifices. The party chiefly interested in these 
offerings were the priests — the sacrifices were the inherit- 
ance of the priest, his sole source of livelihood. So at 
least the Bible informs us. " All the best of the oil, and 
all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits 
of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have 
I given thee." — Numbers 18:12. 

Religion, and especially the Christian religion, is, in 
its leading features, merely a system of government. 
The chief duty of the Christian is to worship and obey 
the Supreme Ruler, as the chief duty of every subject in 
a civilized land is to worship the state and obey its laws. 
In religion, devotion consists mainly in making sacrifices, 
and the parallel between religion and government, in 
this respect, has been carried down to modern times. 
Certainly sacrifice is the chief element in the devotions 
of the subject in the modern state. The citizen is con- 
stantly called upon to make sacrifices — for the state, for 
the public, for God and for " the good of the greatest 
number." He sacrifices his liberty in the first place, and 
after that is gone, it is perfectly natural that he should 
be called upon to offer up his labor, his time, his feelings, 
and perhaps his life, at the same shrine. The most com- 

3 



SACRIFICES. 49 

mon form under which sacrifices are now made is that of 
"taxes." Taxes are paid now as tithes were paid in 
Old Testament times, as " a ransom for a man's soul unto 
the Lord!" 

It doubtless would not be amiss, in this connexion, to 
introduce a brief description of sacrifices as they are 
found in connexion with religious worship, reminding 
the reader that just such sacrifices, though different in 
form, are required from the subjects of states in all 
civilized lands at the present time. 

It is a curious fact that all there is of religious worship, 
or substantially all of it, has the character of a sacrifice. 
The idea, or conception, that God is merely a great man, 
and is just as frail, irregular and changeable a creature 
as we are ourselves, is never lost sight of by the wor- 
shiper or devotee. But if Grod were really a just being, 
if he were, as we so often assert he is, the perfection of 
wisdom and goodness, he would not be changeable, he 
could not be moved, and so all our worship and adora- 
tion would be unavailing. It is evident enough, from 
the efforts we put forth to bribe, move and propitiate 
God, that we do not believe that he is a just, an all- wise 
and a perfect being. Only imperfect beings can be 
moved ; only imperfect beings will change their purposes 
or resolutions. Would a man dare to send a fat sheep 
or a purse of gold to a just judge who would soon be 
called upon for a decision in his case? A judge who 
accepts bribes or presents cannot be a just judge. But 
men uniformly worship those beings only whom they 
consider to be reflexions of themselves — beings who are 
one thing to-day and another to-morrow, who have no 
settled convictions or plans, and who are liable to do al- 
most anything, either bad or good, if they are not ap- 
proached and propitiated by the right men ( the priests ), 
and in the right manner ( the one which is prescribed in 
the ritual). Such is the God that men worship, in 



50 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



one form or another, throughout the civilized world. 

It is evident enough that, as already intimated, all 
worship is in the nature of sacrifice — it is a step taken, 
a loss incurred, a suffering borne, simply to gratify, ap- 
pease, conciliate or propitiate the Deity. Undoubtedly 
the earliest form of a sacrifice was the feast, at which the 
Lord was given something good to eat and something 
pleasant to smell. Dr. Spencer observes "that sacrifices 
were looked upon as gifts, and it was the general im- 
pression that gifts would have the same effect with God 
as with man ; they would appease wrath, conciliate favor 
with the Deity, and finally they would testify to the 
gratitude and affection of the one making the sacrifice. 
From this principle proceeded expiatory, precatory and 
eucharistic offerings." 

Every one who carefully examines the chapters of the 
Old Testament and makes himself familiar with the sys- 
tem of worship prescribed in those books must be struck 
with the striking resemblance, if not identity, between 
Hebrew worship and those observances that prevailed in 
Greece and Rome, as well as in polytheistic countries 
generally. The character of the offerings, the mode of 
worship that was adopted and the ceremonies that were 
observed did not materially differ from those which we 
find described in heathen mythology. They made sacri- 
fices of various kinds, but what was deemed the most 
acceptable to the Deity was the blood of some favorite 
animal. Blood was considered identical with life ; with 
the outpouring of the blood, life went out. Therefore to 
the gods blood has always been the most acceptable of 
offerings. In Hebrew times, as in Roman times, the 
sacrifice of animals was the most important, and the 
one most commonly adopted. There is no doubt that 
this whole system was copied from the Egyptians, a 
people believed to be the most sincere and devoted idol- 
aters this world has yet known. As one writer ob- 



SACRIFICES. 



51 



serves : " The Jews were diligent in performing the ex- 
ternal services of religion, in offering prayers, incense, 
sacrifices, oblations " — just such observances as are found 
in all countries where idolatry prevails. Prayer is by no 
means confined to believers in the Christian religion — it is 
found in all religions, even the most primitive. Among 
the Romans no act of religious worship was performed 
without prayer. The Romans made many vows, and the 
Israelites did the same thing — in fact vows are common 
under all forms of worship. People vow to make some 
sacrifice as an inducement to the Deity to grant their 
requests. 

The chief excellence of the sacrifice lies in the value 
of what is offered ; the more valuable the animal sacri- 
ficed, the greater the merit of the one who makes the 
sacrifice. Abel brought a fat sheep, the firstling of his 
flock, while Cain probably brought a little fruit or per- 
haps some grain. That was doubtless the reason why 
the Lord had respect unto Abel's offering, and not unto 
Cain's. Following out this idea in regard to offerings, 
the thought naturally arose that the greatest of all sacri- 
fices would be that of a human life. It is a melancholy 
fact, but none the less it is true, that the offering of 
human beings as a sacrifice is a practice that has pre- 
vailed in the early days of all devotional people. To 
avert a storm or a calamity, or to remove pestilence or the 
plague, some favorite daughter or some beloved son 
was sacrificed. We remember how it happened with 
Jonah. Ancient history furnishes the records of many 
such offerings as these. This rite still survives among 
many savage people ; cannibalism is one of its forms. It 
has been a prevalent doctrine throughout all time that 
the blood of victims has a purifying, saving, healing in- 
fluence. We still preserve the thought in our eucharist, 
in our conception of the saving power of the blood of 
Jesus Christ. The practice of immolating human beings 



52 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



was by no means unknown among the Israelites. Jeph- 
thah sacrificed to the Lord his daughter and only child, 
in accordance with the vow he had made. Abraham 
was just prepared to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, when 
the Lord saved the latter's life. The king of Moab took 
his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead and 
made of him a burnt-offering. And, indeed, is the offer- 
ing of human beings to appease the anger of the gods 
unknown among the civilized nations of the earth at the 
present day ? Every man who is killed in battle is a 
sacrifice ; every man who is killed by a railway train or 
by the burning of a building is a sacrifice ; every prisoner 
who dies in chains, every heretic or witch who is burned 
at the stake, every culprit who expires upon the gallows 
or under the axe, is a human sacrifice — a victim offered 
up to appease the passion of a wrathful Cod, or to 
gratify the revenge of an enraged people. We are but 
little different from the cannibals. They kill and eat 
their enemies to make sure that they are out of the way. 
We do not exactly eat our enemies, because we are not 
fond of that kind of diet, but we kill them for the sole 
purpose of having no trouble with them hereafter. 
The Buddhists of India instead of sacrificing animals, a 
practice repugnant to their feelings, made use of dough. 
So Christians in their sacrament symbolize the blood of 
Christ by the use of wine, while the flesh is represented 
by a bit of bread. 

As the development of the Hebrew religion pro- 
gressed, the practice of sacrificing animals declined, and 
finally under Christ's teachings sacrifices of all kinds were 
less and less observed. Christ did not teach that heaven 
could be gained by making sacrifices in any manner, and 
yet when we come to the Middle Ages, during which 
people were intensely religious as well as profoundly 
wicked, the practice of making sacrifices assumed a new 
phase, and one that was generally adopted. Instead of 



SACRIFICES. 



-53 



sacrificing animals, they sacrificed money and property. 
They gave not simply a tenth, but more. Some built 
convents and others churches. Everybody made some 
sacrifice in some manner, in order to conciliate God and 
secure a rest in heaven. \Yhen they had no money to 
give, they sacrificed then- health, their comfort, their lives. 
These were all the offerings they had to lay upon the 
altar when they desired to obtain salvation. Many 
fasted ; many made long pilgrimages ; many tortured 
themselves and mutilated their bodies in various ways, 
thus imitating the Hindoos in the efforts which they 
made to render themselves as miserable as possible. By 
so doing they imagined they would gain an entrance 
into heaven, and finally everlasting happiness and rest. 
This was not Christianity : it was merely proceeding in 
accordance with the teachings of the Old Testament. 
Asceticism is not to be derived from the lessons taught 
by Christ. Samuel is quite right in saying, " to obey is 
better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of 
rams." Or as the Psalms have it : " The sacrifices of 
God are a broken spirit ; a broken and contrite heart. 
God, thou wilt not despise." By Christ's sacrificing him- 
self for all men, other sacrifices are made needless, 
worthless. He died to save sinners, all sinners, and such 
being the admitted fact, what is there left for the sinner 
to do? Xothing — nothing but believe, and that is a 
very simple and easy matter. 

It is evident that the teachings of the Old Testament 
are daily becoming more and more ignored, as a rule of 
life and a law unto man, and the doctrines of Christ and 
Paul are rapidly taking their place. It is also evident 
that divine worship, in these modern days of Protest- 
antism and apostasy, has degenerated into a very simple 
and trifling affair. Before Christ, and many centuries 
after Christ, while the spirit of both Paganism and the 
Old Testament prevailed, the worship of God was a very 



54- 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



serious matter. Even at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century, and down to forty or fifty years ago, it was a 
far more serious business, even with Protestants, than 
it is now. It meant continued sacrifices and self-denial 
in a variety of ways. God was uppermost in the minds 
of men at all times. As it was in the days of old Eome 
and Greece, God intervened at every step taken in life, 
and it was necessary that God should be invoked and 
consulted, if not propitiated on all occasions. Even a 
simple and every-day matter like eating was always a 
devotional performance, and God was assumed to share 
in the repast. The birth of a child was God's work and 
required certain religious observances; so it was with 
marriage, and so also when death occurred. God was 
present with men in all places and at all times. Even 
war was God's work — so was famine, pestilence and 
disease. God could precipitate these evils, or he could 
withhold them. Under such circumstances people gave 
tithes unto the Lord cheerfully and regularly. The peo- 
ple made sacrifices to him in some form every day, and 
usually several times in a day. Not alone the Sabbath 
day, but many other days in the year were devoted 
wholly to the worship of the Lord. 

None of these observances are followed to any ap- 
preciable extent at the present time. What little there is 
done under the pretence of worship, is the exclusive work 
of the pastor, who has his duties assigned to him and 
who is paid a stated sum for his services. It is wholly a 
business matter. People do nothing but believe ; indeed, 
nothing more is considered to be necessary. Men pray 
no more, neither do they fast. They lay nothing upon 
the family altar, for the simple reason that families at 
the present day have, as a general thing, dispensed with 
the altar. There is an altar in the church, but it is no 
such institution as the books of the Old Testament tell 
about, and such as it is, it is never used by the people. 



SACRIFICES. 



55 



Everything has so degenerated that nothing is left that 
could be strictly termed worship. A man may go to 
church and still not worship. He may go to exhibit his 
apparel, or to hear the music, or to please his customers 
and follow a fashion. As a rule, all exercises that take 
place in our churches are instituted uniformly with a 
view rather of pleasing and conciliating the people than 
of worshiping the Lord. 

The result that we have been considering is one that 
might naturally have been expected. Long since, men 
ceased to fear God, even when they believed in his ex- 
istence. An inflexible, unchangeable (rod such as men 
believe in at the present day is not to be feared, for 
fearing him would be of no avail. What need is there 
of worshiping, when everybody admits that God's pur- 
poses cannot be changed by any act of subserviency on 
the part of men ? What need of praying, fasting, sacri- 
ficing, when people know that these things can do no 
good, and when everything is believed to have been or- 
dained from the beginning ? What need of laboring to 
be saved, when, as we have noticed, men are already 
saved by the sacrifice of the Son of God ? The sacrifice 
that Christ made, it is conceded, made sacrifices on the 
part of man unnecessary, if not improper. If Christ has 
already done the work, why should man undertake to do 
the same work after him ? Christ did not teach the 
doctrine of worship, of devotion, of continued sacrifice, 
or of ceremony. He was opposed to these things. He 
taught above all others the doctrine of love — not the 
doctrine of hate which we find in the Old Testament. 
He taught the practice of love — not for a few, not for 
one's family, not for one's friends alone, but for all the 
world. 

What we have been telling thus far is not what it is 
believed should be, but simply what is. It is not a be- 
lief that we are teaching or a theory that we are pro- 



56 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



pounding. We are merely stating facts. It is an un- 
questioned fact that worship, as we have it at the close 
of the nineteenth century, has become sublimated to 
such an extent that it is now simply an inappreciable 
and imponderable essence. It is merely a relic — a rem- 
nant that bears scarcely any resemblance to the original 
from which it has descended. Again, we might ask, why 
should men fear and tremble, and what is there really 
that they can do, if they would? There is no devil, 
there are no witches, there are no demons ; so what 
should we fear ? We should not fear Grod, for Grod is 
no more our master and king ; he is our Father, our 
Provider, our Protector, and he will do for us only what 
is for our good and our final salvation. He is wiser than 
we are, he is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent ; he 
careth for all things, and not even a sparrow is allowed 
to fall without his notice — so, why should we concern 
Ourselves ? It is true the New Testament tells about a 
heaven, a hell, as well as a devil and demons, but, strange 
to say, very few people believe in their existence at the 
present time, at least in any literal or practical sense. 
Fifty years ago ministers talked about people's going to 
hell and being damned, but it is a rare thing nowadays 
that one of them mentions the subject, at least in any 
serious way. 

But if men do not fear the Devil, nor dread going to 
hell, nor being damned eternally, what remains for them 
to fear, and why should they worship and offer sacrifices 
to any being ? There would seem to be no reason why 
they should, and for that reason people as a general 
thing have long since ceased to trouble themselves about 
such unimportant matters. As people now have little 
or no time to devote to the Lord, they have more time 
to devote to their own -affairs. Formerly men divided 
revenues with the Lord every year and gave him a tenth 
or more of their incomes ; now they merely -send their 



SACRIFICES. 



57 



wives and children to chnrch on Sunday for an hour or 
two and give them a few cents to deposit on the contri- 
bution plate as a thank-offering to the Lord ! It is a 
lucky thing, we must confess, that the Lord no more de- 
pends upon the worship or favors of men, for if he had 
to rely solely upon what he gets from human sources, he 
would soon find himself in reduced circumstances. Even 
the Sabbath, which was formerly the one clay, or part of 
a day, that was devoted to the worship of the Lord, is 
rapidly becoming obsolete, not only in this godless coun- 
try of ours, but throughout the civilized world. 

Eeligion has become a matter of reason now, rather 
than of faith as formerly. What is reasonable, people 
will believe ; what is not reasonable, people will not ac- 
cept under any considerations. Formerly the priests did 
all the thinking and inquiring — now people, even the 
most ordinary people, do most of that business for them- 
selves. Under such a condition of things, is it any 
wonder that religious worship at the end of the nine- 
teenth century should not be what it was in the twelfth 
or sixteenth century ? Formerly the clergy determined 
the character and status of religion, and they served it 
up to the people in such forms and in such proportions 
as pleased themselves best. In those days the people 
believed what they were told to believe. But some cen- 
turies since, Martin Luther came along with an open 
Bible for men to read, and since that time they have 
begun to open their eyes and think and believe for them- 
selves. Civilized men have now passed the infantile 
stage ; formerly they needed a Grod, a master, a pro- 
tector, a guide, but now they begin to feel that they are 
of age and can think and act for themselves. In Old 
Testament times, Grod dwelt among men and gave them 
his constant care and attention. Later on, his home was 
in heaven — but just where that might be, has never yet 
been clearly ascertained. Now he is omnipresent, that 



58 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



is, lie is everywhere in general and nowhere in particular. 
But for the minds of ordinary men, a God that is every- 
where is nowhere, and he is really no God at all. No 
God is good for us unless he is our special God and 
comes when and where we want him. An omnipresent 
Grod it is not possible for the mind of man to comprehend. 
A feelingless Grod, a God that cannot be moved, a God 
that has no qualities or characteristics, that is a mere 
existence, thought or idea and nothing else, is practically 
for us no God at all. But that is what God has become 
in the minds of thinking men at the present moment ; 
and is it any wonder that he is not worshiped as before ? 
What benefit would it be to men to worship such a 
God ? God has now become identified with nature, or 
with the laws of nature. Who would think of worship- 
ing nature ; who would offer sacrifices, make vows or 
utter prayers to nature ? To do that, or to build tem- 
ples, or erect altars, for such a purpose, would be the lowest 
kind of idolatry. The negroes of Africa worship nature, 
with its trees, its stones, its animals ; so did the Egypt- 
ians and the ancient Greeks and Romans. To do the 
same thing now, would be rather late in the season and 
entirely out of harmony with the times. It would be an 
anomaly, an incongruity. 

We still have our Bible ; that remains as it has been 
for hundreds of years, but the minds of men change, and 
with them their belief changes. Not only has religion 
changed, but it is still changing every day. Thought 
changes before religion changes, but when thought 
changes, religion is sure to change with it, sooner or later. 
As science and philosophy advance, religion must also 
advance, not with equal pace necessarily, but it must 
certainly advance. Science and philosophy determine 
the form and status of religion in the end. Religion 
itself does not shape or control either science or philoso- 
phy. As people come to think, so they will finally come to 



SACRIFICES. 



59 



believe, and as they come to believe, so will be their religion. 

No, it is evident enough that for us the day for mak- 
ing sacrifices to the Lord, to any great extent, is to be 
counted among the things of the past. Indeed, he is in 
want of them no more, and he does not need our services 
in any way. 

But sad to relate, men are still in trouble. They have 
merely changed one master for another, and the master 
they now have proves to be much worse than the one 
they had before. They have dispensed with Providence, 
but they have the state instead, and we take it for 
granted that after a little further experience, they will 
come to the conclusion that they were better off under 
Providence than they now are under the state. Provi- 
dence had to be fed and occasionally given a smell of 
sweet savor, but that was only occasionally. With the 
state the case is different. The state we ha\ r e with us 
always, as we do the poor, and it has to be served and 
fed every day in the week and every week in the year. 
There is no end to the sacrifices that a man must make 
under the state. Our state is very much like the (rod 
of the Old Testament — amazingly selfish, exceedingly 
jealous, extremely exacting, given much to wrath, and 
not easily appeased. That is the reason why people 
have to be giving something constantly, and saying 
and doing something nice at all times, just to please 
the state and keep it in good humor. If the wrath of 
the state happens to wax hot, its subjects are apt to have 
a very uncomfortable time indeed. 

But our people have become pretty well educated, and 
they have learned to know what is best for them. Just 
as our ancestors blessed the dear Lord and called him the 
best Grod the world had ever seen, just so we go around 
to-day praising the goodness of the state and declaring 
that we have "the best government under the sun." 
That is a way we have, and it shows what a remarkable 



60 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



effect education may have upon the human heart. Edu- 
cation is a wonderful contrivance, and with its help doc- 
trines are inculcated that otherwise would never be 
known. 

It might be added that sacrificing is an expensive 
business, and especially so when men sacrifice to gods. 
Think what an immense sacrifice the Christians make 
when they go on year after year and century after cen- 
tury sacrificing one day out of seven to a God who prob- 
ably neither knows nor cares about their Sundays ! It 
might answer in Palestine, where the climate is mild and 
a living is secured easily, but in the colder zones a man 
needs to work every day in the week to make any no- 
ticeable progress. As a rule, the nights afford sufficient 
rest for man. It will be remembered that Christ did not 
preach the observance of the Sabbath. Indeed, he did 
not observe it himself. 



CHAPTER V. 



A spirit hath not flesh and bones. — Luke 24:39. 
And there came forth a spirit, and stood before 
the Lord, and said, I will persuade him — 1 
Kings 22:21. 

The body without the spirt is dead. — James 2:26. 

People make the unaccountable mistake of supposing 
that there are both things and the spirits of things ; that 
things have two forms, or two characters, two individu- 
alities, one material and the other spiritual. But as a 
matter of fact the spiritual form exists only in the minds 
of men, which is the same as saying that it does not exist 
at all. It certainly does not exist in nature. How could 
we know anything of a spirit, even if it existed? It 
does not, and cannot act, upon the senses in any way — 
we cannot see it, hear it, taste it, smell it, feel it. How 
' should we ever have any knowledge of it ? We have 
absolutely no knowledge of spirits, and hence all belief 
in them should be discarded. Spirits do not concern us, 
they have no practical value for us, and therefore we 
should drop the subject altogether, remembering that if 
we have no spirits, there can be no spirit-world. 

The older people of this generation must realize 
that we have a smaller number of spirits and spooks now 
than we had fifty years ago, or even twenty-five years 
ago ; the crop diminishes year after year, and those that 
we have are of an inferior and sickly grade. It is not a 



THE VEW DISPENSATION. 



great while since a person conld find spooks on any 
night in any graveyard in the country. They were met 
in the woods and on the highway, but never in the day 
time. Spooks are nocturnal in their habits. They are 
still seen occasionally, bnt almost wholly by children 
and simple people. A sensible man, a man whose head 
is set right on his shoulders, never sees a spook at this 
late day. The same is true of spirits properly so called. 
It is true men talk with spirits — or they imagine they do 
— but they never see them So men talk with Grod still 
— or they imagine they do. Formerly they saw him, 
they met him face to face, they entertained him, they 
even wrestled with him — but that was a long, long time 
ago. Instances of that kind are rarer now. Indeed, we 
have not heard of a case of a personal interview with 
Grod, or a personal struggle with Grod, in all our life. 
Even the persistent reporter has not been able to gain 
access to the throne of grace, the answer uniformly re- 
turned being "not at home, 1 ' or "gone out — will not be 
back in several days." It is well known that Grod is 
much more retiring, secretive and reticent than formerly. 
He is practically inaccessible. 

The whole kingdom of spirits seems to have been 
steadily declining for centuries. We formerly had spirits 
of turpentine, spirits of nitre and spirits of all kinds. 
All alcoholic liquids were spirituaL Electricity was a 
sort of spirit that traveled from body to body. Now we 
know that electricity is not a current and it does not 
travel We really do not know what it is or whether it 
is or not. So ir is with, sound and light. "When we speak 
of then independent existence, or of their existence at 
all, and especially when we talk of their traveling, we 
are using terms without significance, simply to cover up 
our ignorance. We know at least that light and sound 
do not travel; we know of a certainty that nothing really 
comes from the sun in eight seconds, or in any other time. 



SPIKITS. 



63 



There are many spooks or spirits that do not go by 
that name, and spooks have more to do with ruling man- 
kind than is commonly supposed. The spooks or ghosts 
of the dead past have ruled this world for thousands of 
years, perhaps since the first days of creation. Indeed, 
if it were not for the past, people would have no plat- 
form to stand on. This world is governed and controlled, 
or led and directed, exclusively by spooks in all so 
called public affairs. Our governing and directing 
agencies, it is true, are not known by the name of spooks, 
nevertheless they are spooks just the same. They are 
the ghosts of things that never existed, and even those 
ghosts themselves are merely supposed to exist. In this 
respect they are like all ghosts. For instance ; " our 
country,'' " our community,'' and all such existences are 
imaginary and therefore spookish in character. There 
are no real bounds to our country. If there were such 
natural bounds, they could never be changed, but it is 
well enough known that the bounds of a country, like 
Trance for example, are changed frequently in the course 
of time. We are governed, it is well known, by the 
will of '"the people," "the nation," "the seventy mil- 
lions," by "the government," by " courts," by "the legis- 
lature," by "the executive," by "the administration." 
But it is well known that all these, and a hundred other 
things, are imaginary existences. They nowhere are seen 
— they cannot be found, they cannot be grasped, they 
cannot be defined or described. They are merely things 
to talk of, to dream about, to fool people with. They 
are only words, or, to speak more plainly, they are 
spooks. 

You cannot find the people or define them. You do 
not know, you cannot know, what their will is. You do 
not even know that the people have a will, or, indeed, 
that there really is such a being, or creature, or spirit, or 
spook, as the people. And so it is in the case of " the 



64 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



nation," " the government," " the executive," " the 
legislature " — they are all spooks. In every case 
when you get down to the plain and simple facts, there 
is a man, or possibly a woman, in the case, behind the 
scenes; or it may be there is a goodly number of men or 
a goodly number of women behind the scenes moving 
the machinery of the stage. When we talk about what 
the people will, we only mean what this or that man 
wills, or a certain number of men will. But a certain 
number of men, even a majority, is not and never can 
be " the people," the whole people. So when the court 
decides this or that question, it is not the court that 
really decides, it is merely J udge So-and-So. He is the 
court — men are always "the court." And " the legisla- 
ture," it is said, passes laws. But in fact the legislature as 
a whole, as a body, never enacts laws. It is only those 
who vote for the measure, or to be more precise about 
the matter, it is the boss who tells them how to vote. 
He is " the legislature." As we have said, there is al- 
ways a man or woman in the case. The man in the 
case is a live, real man ; he is visible, tangible, describe 
able. There is no spook about him — he is flesh and 
bones. 

So, the world is full of spooks, as we have intimated. 
Fashion is a spook, and still it has great influence, be- 
cause people believe in fashion and worship at its shrine. 
But that fact does not change its character. Popular 
opinion is a spook, and that has great influence also. 
And after all popular opinion amounts to nothing. It 
is more apt to be wrong than right. Popular opinion is 
merely the opinion of a certain number of men, whose 
opinions prove nothing any way. All people who wor- 
ship idols really worship spooks, as we all know — that 
is, they worship what never did and what never can 
exist. Christian people think they are an exception 
and that they do not worship idols, but they do. They 

4 



SPIRITS. 



65 



worship a host of idols, just as the Pagans did, and they 
would see the matter in that light if they would only 
stop to think. Yes, indeed, spooks rule this world. 
We do not know how it will be in the world to come. 

To this day many people, perhaps most people, be- 
lieve that the air is full of spirits, and that the souls of 
the dead are fluttering about us all the time. The belief 
is a natural one for all who believe in immortality ; if 
people do not really die when they are supposed to die, 
their ghosts, or spooks or spirits, must have an abiding 
place somewhere. But many do not believe in spirits 
and spooks, because they do not believe in literal, prac- 
tical immortality. Where there is no immortality there 
can be no spirits ; and so if there can be no spirits, there 
can be no immortality. When people enter the spirit 
world, they nmst leave their flesh and the lusts of the flesh 
behind. There can be no real men in the spirit world, 
and so it must be that no men are there at all, for the 
only men known to exist are real men. What is the use 
of thinking or talking of immortality, when its absolute 
impossibility is a conclusion that we always arrive at, 
come by whatever route we may ? If we ascertained 
finally that men lived after death, we would be certain 
that what we called death was not death, and that men 
did not really die. It is evident that if Christ rose after 
three days, he must have been merely in a trance, a clee]3 
sleep. We know of a certainty that when people actu- 
ally die, they cannot return to life, and that if they do 
return to life, we were mistaken in supposing that they 
were dead The people who are supposed to come to 
life in some other world must be a different people from 
those whom we knew. When a body is so refined down 
that it becomes a spirit, it becomes non-existent, or in 
other words, nothing. 

It is true nothing is ever lost, and in a certain sense 
there is an immortalitv not only for men but thines 



66 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



When a tree is burned, all of the tree remains in the 
world — the smoke, the vapor, the ashes — not in a spirit 
form wandering about, as spirits are supposed to do, but 
as an inseparable part of other bodies. So when the 
heated stove grows cold, the heat does not take the spirit 
form and go capering about. There is no such form of 
heat known to the world. There is no spirit of heat, 
and no one pretends there is ; so there is no spirit of life, 
and no one pretends there is. If heat there be, it never 
assumes the independent, self-existent form. We know 
nothing of heat ; we only know of heated bodies. So we 
know nothing of the spirits of men ; we only know men 
themselves. 

Never mind about the soul — the soul will take care of 
itself. It needs no protection or attention. It will not 
burn in summer nor freeze in winter. It eats nothing, 
does nothing, wants nothing, is nothing. With the body 
the case is different. That needs constant care and at- 
tention ; without attention, it is sure to decay and disap- 
pear. There is no occasion to urge people to be troubled 
about their souls ; it is the body alone that needs con- 
cern. If the body is right, the soul will be right. It 
must be evident that the difference between the Bible 
and the New Dispensation is radical, on this as well as on 
other points. 



CHAPTER VI. 



And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him 
and fell down at Ms feet and worshiped him. 
But Peter took him up saying: Stand up, I 
myself also am a man — Acts 10:25. 
Every man did that which was right in his own 
eyes. — Judges 2 1 :25 . 

But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. 
—Esther 3:2. 

The rich and poor meet together ; the Lord is the 
Quaker of them all. —Prov. 22:2. 
For there is no power but of God; the powers 
that be are ordained of God. — Pom. 13:1. 
Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor 
honor the person of the mighty. — Lev. 19:15. 
God hath spoken once ; twice have I heard this : 
that power belongeth unto God. — Ps. 62:11. 

The connexion between religion and government is 
more intimate than many suppose. The two may be 
said to be identical ; or at least their relations are those 
of parent and offspring. Religion always comes before 
government ; but government is certain to follow in due 
time. The first form of government of which history 
gives us any account is theocracy. God is the true, the 
original and the only ruler of mankind. All other rulers 
merely act as his agents or representatives ; or at least 
they assume to do business in some way in God's name. 
A king is a king only because he is a god, or perhaps the 
authorized agent of the gods. Every king must be di- 



68 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



vine, must be infallible, or lie could not, in any proper 
sense, be called a king. Men would never willingly 
obey a king, if they regarded him merely as an ordinary 
mortal like themselves. Even the common man whom 
we elect to command us, or rule over us, for a longer or 
shorter period of time, we regard as having been metamor- 
phosed in some mysterious way. A governor in office, 
and a governor out of office is not, in the eyes of the 
public, by any means the same man. If he were the 
same man, why should he not be equal in his powers and 
privileges ? 

It must be evident that no treatise on religion can be 
complete without including some notice of laws and 
government, and we have deemed it not amiss to devote 
considerable space to that subject in this connexion. It 
is true that just now the whole civilized world is shame- 
fully neglectful of Grod, but it should not be forgotten 
that without Grod, government would be absolutely with- 
out foundation, and in due time it would tumble to the 
ground. 

It should be observed in the first place that nature has 
no masters ; there is no subordination of parts in any of 
her plans. The lowest creature in the world holds as 
high a rank as the highest. One is as indispensable as 
the other to nature's success. It cannot be said that the 
head guides or governs the body. The head and the 
body are both parts of one whole, and there is no line of 
demarkation to separate them. No one knows that the 
directing power lies in the head. It is not the head 
alone that thinks ; the whole body, and every part of 
the body, thinks. If that were not so, the head would 
go on thinking after decapitation occurred. Nature 
gives no evidence of having made any creature or any 
thing for the benefit of some other creature or some 
other being. Nature treats all alike, protects and pre- 
serves all alike. The destruction of one by another, or 



GOVERNMENT. 



69 



the overpowering of one by another, is an accident and 
no part of the original design. Nothing was made to be 
destroyed. All the efforts of nature seem to be in the 
direction of preservation, and none for the purpose of 
destruction. For every creature some means of defence 
or some method of escape is provided. The strong do 
not always overcome the weak ; it often occurs, and per- 
haps it generally occurs, that the weak overcome the 
strong, either by cunning combinations or by continued 
persistence. This world has always been ruled by 
minorities — never by those who are in any sense the 
strongest. It is not, and it never has been, strength that 
ruled the world. 

In the natural, as opposed to the artificial or advanced 
state, no man and no animal seeks to enslave another. 
Slavery is a late development even with man ; slavery 
arises when labor comes to be a necessary factor and a 
preliminary condition of existence. In the natural state 
there is very little of what is understood to be labor in 
the ordinary sense. 

An animal in the natural state has wants and it seeks 
to gratify those wants, but it rarely interferes with others 
except when they stand in the way of accomplishing its 
desires. Nature makes no combinations ; it deals with 
individuals and with individuals only. Nature has no 
ranks ; God is no respecter of persons. It is men alone 
that have ranks, and titles and privileges. The world is 
a co-ordinated whole, but there is no slavery, no labor- 
ing for others without returns or without consent. It is 
true that in the case of ants and bees, the labors of indi- 
viduals enure to the benefit of the whole group, but they 
act from impulse and not from compulsion. 

Whenever individuals associate together or organize 
in any way, there must be subordination, but not neces- 
sarily slavery. Each individual does what is natural or 
appropriate for him to do ; and what he does is done for 



70 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



no one but himself. The liver does not perform its func- 
tions as a servant for other portions of the body. It has 
no consciousness of anything but itself ; it does simply its 
own natural work without effort and without any refer- 
ence to anything but itself. But where there are groups 
of individuals, there seems to be conscious association 
and apparent subordination. Is not one part of a ma- 
chine as important as another ? In the perfect instru- 
ment, no one part can be dispensed with, and no part can 
perform the office of any of the others. 

Should there be any rank among men? Is any one 
superior in any respect to another ? Does the sun labor 
for the planets ? Do the clouds pour out their copious 
showers simply as servants of the earth? No, they 
merely do what clouds naturally and necessarily do. 
There is no design nor co-operation about the business. 
Does the fig stand higher than the apricot, or the orange 
higher than the apple? Are flowers higher than the 
grasses ? Is the elephant nobler than the horse, merely 
because he is the larger and stronger animal? There 
is no comparison possible between any one individual 
and another, and especially is this true between two in- 
dividuals of different species or classes. We could not 
compare a bridge with a house ; neither could we com- 
pare one horse with another, since the two are distinct 
and different. Things can only be compared when they 
belong in the same category, and then only on condition 
that they are identical. When we say that a tree is 
taller than a man, it is merely the length of one that we 
compare with the length of the other. It is the same as 
saying that fifty feet is longer than six feet. 

Before our present division of labor, every man was, 
like the native in new countries, a complete man Now 
he is only a small part of a man, and therefore he is a 
slave. He can only get his living by the assistance or 
co-operation of others. He is only part of a machine, 



GOVERNMENT. 



71 



and for his subsistence he depends upon the co-operative 
action of the other parts. Is that the better way ? 
Originally a man was complete in himself and he could 
supply his wants without asking for anybody's favors 
or seeking anybody's assistance. That way is to be pre- 
ferred, even if it does not produce what are considered 
the best results in all cases. Nature dictates that there 
shall be co-operation in rearing young and nowhere else. 
But there is no compulsion there — the male and the 
female merely follow their natural impulses in giving 
then services for the benefit of their offspring. Such 
help is proper, and it is founded on the true principle, 
namely, on the will or the wish of the one who performs 
the service. So it is in the beehive. The workers work 
because it is natural for them, and because they prefer 
to work. There are no signs of compulsion in that case. 
Nature never compels, because it could not do so, even 
if such were the original design. 



No man is born to be the servant of another ; and 
there is no obligation for one man to labor for another 
even for pay. What difference does it make whether 
we appropriate a share of a man's labor or a share of his 
property? It is all the same either way. We have no 
right to a man's labor, and no right to his property. 
That we pay the servant a pittance for his labor, and do 
not pay the slave, makes no essential difference in the 
merits of the case. In both instances we are appropriat- 
ing what never belonged to us. If we had to pay for 
labor what it was really worth, we would never hire 
servants, because there would be no profit on the invest- 
ment. 

Our rulers want us to do right, but they reserve to 
themselves the privilege of determining what is right. 
What is remarkable is that our views, our wishes are of 



72 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



no account with our masters, and so they are not taken 
into consideration. Those who assume to rule over us, 
acting in the capacity of governors or of officers of the 
law, are not at all particular as to what they themselves 
do, but they are very exacting as to what we must do- 
Masters never have obligations ; they are not bothered 
with such things. 

Governors make the fatal mistake of treating the peo- 
ple as if they were mere children or slaves — as beings 
having no feelings, no sentiments, no rights, no interests, 
no privileges. It seems to be taken for granted that if 
ordinary people were left without guidance, they would 
be sure to go astray. But this is a false premise. 

Men must always worship something. For a long 
time they , have worshiped a god whom they never saw 
and whom of course they never knew. Now they are 
worshiping the state, which also they have never seen 
and which of course they do not know. Men are con- 
stantly hankering for protection ; and they are ready to 
worship any creature, or even a pewter calf, if they think 
it might render them a little assistance in time of need. 
Sometimes they imagine that a rabbit's foot will answer 
the purpose, and they worship that. It certainly is a 
fact, as St. Paul intimated, that "in all things men are 
too superstitious/' They see qualities and powers in 
men and things that never existed. It is not the naked 
African alone that finds his fetich in his e very-day walks. 
People see in a man who is an officer a different being 
from one who is not an officer. It is not at all to be won- 
dered at that men, civilized men, have always worshiped 
kings, as they do to-day. If a king has any power that 
ordinary men do not have, he must be a god, and as 
such he should be worshiped. But, unfortunately, all 
his power proves to be imaginary, when the day of trial 
and judgment comes. Many a king has lost his head in 
the past — which could not have happened, if he were 



GOVERNMENT. 



73 



what lie pretended to be, a god. Gods never lose their 
heads. 

As it is now, men worship (rod less and the state more 
than formerly — they must, it seems, always have some- 
thing upon which they can pin their faith or place their 
affections. For a long time it was divine law that was 
sacred ; now it is human enactments that are sacred. 
This is all proper and natural enough, for there never 
was any material difference between divine law and 
human law. All law is man-made, and therefore it is 
human 

The right to govern implies the right to punish, and 
without the right to punish, no government could be 
maintained. Punishment is the very essence of govern- 
ment. There is no government without laws, either 
written or otherwise ; even slaves cannot obey, if they 
are not informed of what is demanded of them. But 
where we have laws, we must have penalties and punish- 
ments, or they could not be rendered effective. 

But men should be controlled by rational methods and 
never by the application of force. Force can never be 
successful in compelling the action of men : it can only 
be used in inflicting pain where non-compliance or dis- 
obedience is encountered. Force leads to resistance al- 
ways ; there can never be reaction, unless there is action 
to precede it Force in society always involves a 
struggle, and without its application, a large share of 
our ills might be avoided. 

If there is a right to apply force to control men. there 
must be an equal right to resist that force when it is 
found to be objectionable or burdensome. Eesistance 
is itself only force applied with a view to self-protec- 
tion. If there be a right to govern, there must be an 
equal and a co-ordinate right to rebel. 

There is always liberty for the few — there is always 
liberty for masters, but there is never any for slaves ; 



74 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



jet slaves are usually by far the most numerous. But 
there should be liberty for all : not for a part of the peo- 
ple, but for the whole people. 

The word " government " should disappear from our 
language as a misused and obsolete term. The term 
" master " is equally obsolete. This world at present has 
no need of masters. There can be no rightful masters, 
because there can be no rightful government, (rod has 
no regard for persons — Jew and Greek are alike to him. 
Slavery is an invention of man : Grod never created any 
slaves and he never installed any masters. 

If we had no masters — in other words, if we were not 
slaves — we should have no ceremonies to observe, no 
forms, fashions or conditions to follow. We would not 
be bound in any way. There would be no laws to en- 
force, no sovereign to obev. TVe should have no sacri- 
rices to make, no taxes or tithes to pay. no tribute to pro- 
vide, and no one to labor or care for but ourselves. Xo 
such thing would be known as contracts, obligations, 
licenses or permits. Men. all men. and women and 
children likewise, would be left to do as they please, 
subject of course to the circumstances by which they 
find themselves controlled. They would injure no one, 
because they could have no interest in injuring any one. 
Their interests would be all the other way, and so would 
be the interests of every other person. Every man's 
conduct would be regulated not by law but by his com- 
mon sense, and his common sense ought to be as good 
as that of any other man. He would commit no crimes, 
because there would be no crimes to commit. He would 
offend no one in any way, because he would see no in- 
ducement for wrong-doing. He would find that, as the 
Bible says, "to have friends, he must show himself 
friendly." He would see the good results flowing from 
kindness at all times, and the evil that arises from unjust 
action in all cases. 



GOVERNMENT. 



75 



We are frequently assured that we could not get along 
without government, without slavery. But that is the 
barest assumption. For centuries upon centuries men 
got along without government, in any established form, 
and such a thing as slavery in the proper sense was en- 
tirely unknown. The old Germans were free ; the 
American Indians were free — free at least from officers 
of the law, and from parasites and taxes of all kinds. 
Slavery began with the existence of towns, which were 
originally established solely for defence. Towns led. to 
war, war to conquest, and conquest to slavery. Towns 
also led to property, property to accumulations, and 
these again to conquest for purposes of robbery, and 
hence again to slavery. The state is only a modified 
form of a trust, a combination of towns and cities united 
together for the purposes of defence and conquest. Now 
our conquests take a business turn, and with the doc- 
trines accepted at the present day, we have no reason to 
complain of the small thief, the small robber, or the 
common murderer. The public robber or thief, or mur- 
derer, is immensely worse than the rascals that we find 
in society. The flag that a man carries makes no differ- 
ence in the character of his operations. He robs and 
murders simply because he is the stronger party, and 
not because he is the representative of some government 
or company. 

Why should the present age be governed by the past, 
or by those who living in the present assume to speak 
for the past? Why should we be governed by laws 
instituted by men who lived a hundred or a thousand 
years ago ? There is no reason, and hence none can be 
given. 

Men should be governed in all their actions by their 
own judgment and their own sense of right, propriety 
and justice. If they do what is wrong in the eyes of 
those with whom they are associated, let them accept 



76 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



the natural consequences of wrong actions and not mur- 
mur. Before people act, or before they move a step, 
they should consider the consequences of their actions. 

Men love to boast of their authority and preroga- 
tives. But whence do they derive their authority? 
There can be no proper source except in God. But of 
him we know nothing, and from him we receive nothing. 
Men alone control their own movements ; they alone 
control their wills, and their wills control their action. 
All other authority is usurped or assumed. Even kings 
see the necessity of having some foundation for the 
claims which they put forth. They claim to be the 
agents or representatives of God. They do not pretend 
to any authority except delegated authority. Kings 
never do anything except in the name of God, or per- 
haps in the name of the people. Latterly they talk more 
about the people and less about God, but they dare not 
ignore God, for if they did, their house would fall at 
once for want of support. But the claim to divine au- 
thority has always been a base fraud and deception. It 
is a mere showman's trick. There is no divine authority 
given to any man, and there never was. In the very na- 
ture of things it would be impossible. Mankind have 
been duped and frightened by threats of divine wrath, 
just as children are frightened by what they have been 
made to believe are ghosts or devils. Men always 
dread most the things that they do not see or know, and 
perhaps things that they never shall know. Most of our 
troubles are over imaginary things, things that have no 
existence in fact — in other words that are simply spooks. 
If we really knew God and were familiar with him, as we 
are with men, we should have as little fear or regard for 
him as we have for men. It is the old, old story : No 
man is a hero to his valet, because the valet knows him 
too well. 

Government is not only unauthorized and unjust, but 



GOVERNMENT. 



77 



it is always inexpedient and harmful in its results. 
Slavery is not only unlawful, but undesirable, considered 
from any point of view. Slavery has caused the ruin of 
many nations. It was one of the leading causes that led 
to the fall of both Greece and Rome. Certain it is that 
both had slaves, and both ultimately fell, and it is evi- 
dent that these two facts are not mere coincidences. 
Really there are no mere coincidences, as there are no 
mere chances. 

The right to govern a man implies everything. It im- 
plies absolute ownership. It means not only the right 
to a man's labor and property but even to his life, if the 
sacrifice is desired or deemed necessary. The state, the 
master, determines a man's whole course in life; he is 
simply so much clay in the hands of the potter. The 
power that makes all laws and establishes all conditions, 
without any one's being consulted, must prove overwhelm- 
ingly destructive at last. And yet, it must not be for- 
gotten, that the state itself is a mere idea, an empty 
name, a shadow and a sham. There is no state ; there 
are simply men acting in the name of the state, and 
parading in the livery of the state. 

How unfounded is the belief that anybody, or that 
everybody, needs government, needs some one to guide 
and protect him, and keep him from starving to death 
or falling into the fire ! There may be such people, but 
they deserve to be pitied. They ought to be sent to 
some asylum. Unfortunately, people grow into the 
habit of being slaves ; they would rather be somebody's 
slaves than to be put to the trouble of looking out for 
themselves. This is precisely what happened in feudal 
times ; weak men put themselves in the power of some 
lord and became his vassals or slaves. A man who loses 
all power necessarily loses all character and standing, 
lie might better not have been born. 

If government really benefited mankind, the more 



78 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



government we had, and the more laws, the better we 
should be situated. But unfortunately, such has not 
been the experience of the world thus far. Experience 
demonstrates that the less government and laws there 
are, the happier will be the condition of the people. 
The only community that flourishes is the one where 
the individuals and the people flourish. Where govern- 
ors and party favorites alone flourish, the country must 
finally drift to ruin. 

Men offer various arguments and excuses for assum- 
ing power over others. One of these excuses is the 
fraudulent pretence that the governed have made a con- 
tract by which they consent to be ruled by others. But 
no such contract was ever made, for the simple reason 
that no people as a body have the means or power of 
making a contract And above all they could not make 
a contract which could justly bind posterity, the de- 
scendants of the dead. 

Shall eight men be permitted to lay down rules by 
which seven men shall be governed ? What eight men 
shall it be ? Certainly not any or every eight men, but 
some particular eight men peculiarly fitted and qualified 
for the task. Where do we find those eight men? 
What mysterious gift, quality or power do these eight 
have that the seven do not have ? Where do the eight 
obtain their prerogative, and how ? There never was a 
more monstrous fraud than this upon which constitu- 
tional government is founded. Men vote, but who dic- 
tates how they shall vote ? The eight govern the 
seven, but who governs the eight ? Always some leader, 
some boss, some one more active, more ambitious, or 
perhaps more unscrupulous than the rest. There never 
was a crowd or a number of men however small that did 
not follow the lead of some one. They must do that, 
they must be of one mind or they could not act together. 
Now, whose shall that one mind be ? In any event he 



GOVERNMENT. 



79 



will be the leader, the ruler, the master. In all repre- 
sentative governments the party governs the state, and 
the boss governs the party. In all these governments it 
is not the majority really that rules, but the few who 
direct the majority. In fact all rule must be that of one 
man. Are we not assured in the Bible that no man can 
have two masters ? If he cannot have two, he certainly 
cannot have more than two. 

A thing is either right or wrong, and its character can- 
not be changed one way or the other by counting votes. 
If mere votes will do it, a man might buy the votes, and 
indeed it is often done in some communities. Again, 
history has shown that majorities are more apt to be 
wrong than minorities. Men who move in crowds are 
never moved by reason — certainly not by their own rea- 
son. 

Finally, the moment that divinity, divine origin, or 
the Deity, disappears, the whole governmental structure 
falls to the ground. Divinity is the sole prop for all 
government. If there is no divine authority, there is 
none at alL If law is not based on God's will, it has no 
basis, it is no law — and so all force, the army, the courts, 
the police, property, marriage, family, and all legitimacy 
drop to the earth and they are known of men no more. 
If we have no Scriptures, no mandates coming direct 
from God, we have no fundamental law, no foundation 
for human enactments. In theory at least, a human law 
is supposed to be a statement of what is just and right, 
but what is just and right is something that God alone 
can determine. But if it should be found that we have 
no God, what then ? 



Government is built up on a foundation of fictions, 
and its continued existence is maintained solely through 
the medium of fictions. 



80 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



The right of any one man to be the master of any 
other man is nowhere assumed. The most that is 
claimed is that he may delegate his rights to another, or 
that he may surrender by agreement the rights and 
privileges which God, or nature, originally gave him. 
The veriest tyrant that the world has ever known al- 
ways feels that it is necessary to make some excuse for 
his attempting to exercise authority over others. He 
will claim that he inherited his right to sovereignty, or 
that the subject voluntarily surrendered, or that he con- 
sented to subjection under the rule of the monarch. 

But can a man make a contract binding himself to a 
state of slavery ? And especially can he make a con- 
tract by which he can bind his posterity to a condition 
of bondage ? 

All government originates in some attempt at form- 
ality, some unimportant performance that might serve to 
give the affair the semblance of legitimacy. A few men, 
self-constituted, self-selected, get together and pass some 
resolution or make a government of some kind, as our 
political parties do in their caucuses. But how could 
their acts or their resolutions bind anybody but the par- 
ticipants themselves ? How could they bind those not 
present at the meeting, and particularly those who were 
not born at the time ? 

A few men called delegates got together and agreed 
upon a national constitution for America in the year 
1787. It was the work solely of these men, or of a ma- 
jority of them ; it merely indicated their sentiments, 
their views, their wishes. What they finally decided 
upon was no more binding upon the people of the differ- 
ent states than it was upon the people of France or 
Austria, But in due time, after a couple of years delay, 
the authorities of the different states surrendered and 
accepted the new constitution as it had been prepared 
by those unauthorized delegates, though some of them 

5 



GOVERNMENT. 



81 



submitted much against their wishes. These states did 
not construct or devise the constitution, nor any part of 
it — it was in no sense a law binding upon them. But in 
order to avoid trouble, or for some similar reason, they 
made no resistance, and thus it came that they lost their 
rights and they have been vassals under the general 
government ever since. The power cannot be lodged in 
two places at the same time ; if the general government 
has the power, the states of course cannot, and it is well 
understood they do not, have the power likewise. The 
states have no rights except such as the general govern- 
ment is willing to concede. There can be no such 
thing as a sovereign under a sovereign. A sovereign 
under a sovereign is properly a subject or vassal. The 
prevailing fiction is this : that when one does not resist, 
he consents, and further, that when one consents, all 
consent, even including those who have had no cogniz- 
ance or control of the matter. Then there is the other 
fiction that Grod has commissioned the rulers to tyr- 
annize over their race. How many wicked and out- 
rageous things are done in the name of Grod, in the name 
of Christianity, in the name of the people, in the name 
of justice, in the name of charity ! It is a practice as 
old as time itself for designing men to ''steal the livery of 
heaven to serve the Devil in." If Old Satan did not care- 
fully conceal his cloven feet and hide his hideous tail, 
nobody would have anything to do with him It is an 
easy thing to pretend to authority which one never pos- 
sessed and to presume upon conditions and contracts that 
have never existed. 

We repeat again, and we hope it may never be for- 
gotten or overlooked, that all government is based upon 
fraud and misconception, rather than upon force. The 
power always lies in the people, and in the people only. 
Men are constantly selling, as Esau did, their birthright 
for a mess of pottage. They trade the happiness and 



82 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



comfort of a life time for a few moments' enjoyment at 
the present time. They love to be deceived and imposed 
"upon, and they wonder at last how the trick could have 
been performed so skillfully. No, people should cease 
to talk about the wickedness and brutality of their op- 
pressors. They should prate no more about the irresist- 
ibleness of force. As we have intimated before, it is not 
force that does the business. It is deception, intrigue, 
strategy and strict attention to affairs that always does 
the work. It is the minority — often a small minority — 
that rules the majority. The rulers are always the few, 
and the subjects, the slaves, are the many. The number 
of slaves in Greece far surpassed the number of free men. 
A few scores of policemen in New York with a star on 
their breast and a club in their hands suffice to keep a 
great city in subjection. The star is far more potent 
than the club ; the people could get along in some way 
with the club, but the star — representing as it does the 
Empire state, or perhaps the United States of America — - 
is another thing entirely. The star strikes people with 
awe and it leaves them in a sort of comatose condition. 
That is the reason why they surrender so readily. The 
state gets people under its control in some such manner 
as serpents are supposed to get their victims into their 
power — by some sort of enchantment. 



Of all the astounding dogmas and fictions that prevail 
in regard to the nature and workings of government, 
there are none quite so absurd and pernicious as the 
fiction that people are controlled by force, by majorities, 
by despots, by rulers ! It is a weak and childish delu- 
sion to suppose that any such thing happens. Men are 
never controlled in their action by others, but always by 
their own wills. In attributing their miseries and mis- 
fortunes to other men, they are usually slanderers and 



GOVERNMENT. 



83 



false witnesses who seek to calumniate those who are 
innocent, and who endeavor to place blame where it does 
not properly belong. Men are not forced to do anything, 
for the simple reason that such a thing as compulsion is 
quite impossible. Men are not even hypnotized. They 
are sometimes misinformed and deceived, but that is be- 
cause they do not obtain their information from sources 
that are reliable. 

As a rule to which there are only a few exceptions, 
the sufferings which men are called upon to endure are 
the result of their own shortcomings, their own supine- 
ness, their own ignorance and indolence, their own sel- 
fishness, their own avarice, and finally their own cow- 
ardice and stupidity. No, if we trace back the history 
of the world to the time when civilization began to as- 
sume a tangible form, we shall find that the causes of 
the miseries of mankind lie precisely in the direction 
pointed out above. Men suffer chiefly for their own 
sins, rather than from the sins of others. If men are 
slaves, it is because they consent to be slaves and are 
willing to be slaves. If men suffer, it is only because 
they are content to suffer. There is a remedy for all 
evils, if men would only take the trouble to find and 
apply it. The lowest slave can resist, and so long as he 
resists he is not a slave. A man is a slave only so long 
as he consents to obey. Men who fear not death nor 
suffering never become slaves. 

Let us see what history teaches us in connexion with 
this question of mastery and submission. The con- 
quered, the vassals, are always in the majority. The 
conquerors, the masters, are uniformly an enterprising, 
wide-awake and unscrupulous few. France before the 
Eevolution was ruled by a nobility consisting of only 
one hundred and forty thousand in a population of 
twenty millions. The Catholic clergy, with all the 
power and influence they possessed, only numbered one 



84 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



hundred and thirty thousand. To conquer, hold in sub- 
jection and divide up all England, it required only sixty 
thousand Normans with a William at the head. Num- 
bers have little or nothing to do with conquests ; it de- 
pends upon the kind of men ; their purposes, their qual- 
ities, their perseverance, and their resolution. Thirty 
Norman knights of the right mettle, led by Robert the 
Wise, sufficed to conquer Sicily and Naples. A mob of 
a few thousands ruled Paris, and a few daring spirits like 
Danton, Marat and Robespierre directed the mob. The 
Bible is quite right when it states that the race is not 
always to the swift nor the battle to the strong. 

And how is it possible for the few to accomplish so 
much when the number of those whom they seek to 
subdue is so great ? They succeed through strategy and 
deep laid plans, through cunning maneuvers, through 
unscrupulous means, through bribery, through deception, 
through false promises, through the jealousies, the 
* cupidity and the dissensions of those to whom they are 
opposed. That was the way in which Poland was lost ; 
that was the way in which the liberties of Ireland were 
destroyed. If the people of Poland or the people of 
Ireland had been organized and united, the map of 
Europe would be different to-day. If the South had 
been united in 1861, the history of the war of the Re- 
bellion would read differently from what it does now. 
The same is true of Spain in the year 1898. The dis- 
sensions of her people alone sufficed to make her a prey 
to a strong and ambitious foe. 

But there is a stronger and more important reason 
than this why people lose their liberties and become 
the slaves of some ruler, some autocrat. They become 
slaves because they deserve to be such, because they 
have no right to freedom, and they would not know how 
to use it if they had it in their possession. This is es- 
pecially true of France. It has changed its government 



GOVERNMENT. 



85 



fourteen times in a century, and each time its people 
remained slaves as before. They only changed masters 
each time. The name that a government assumes is no 
certain indication of its true character. France has 
for some time called her government republican, and yet 
it possesses the worst despotism in Europe to-day. It 
is a matter of the smallest moment what the form of 
government may be, or how the constitution reads, or 
whether there is any constitution at all or not. The 
question that interests the people is not this, but what is 
the character of the men who control the machine ; for 
the government is wholly a matter of machinery and 
men. The question of principles is not involved — or it is 
involved only so far as a pretense in that direction is 
rendered necessary in order to give the performance an 
appearance of respectability. We repeat it, the govern- 
ment is solely a matter of machinery and men — men to 
run the machine, and the machine to turn out work ac- 
cording to pattern and demand. That is all. When 
will people be able to appreciate the fact that there is no 
essential difference in government, no matter what form 
or name it may assume ? When people change govern- 
ment, they only get a new set of masters — nothing more. 
That is what the Americans get at every election. Any 
different result would be impossible, for if we have 
government, we must have governors. The mildness or 
severity of a government depends solely upon the dis- 
position and tendencies of the master, and not upon the 
character of the laws. 

The work of those who seek to gain the mastery of 
others, is uniformly done slowly, insidiously, artfully. 
As a general thing, if people knew just what was about 
to happen, they would not suffer it to be done. Unfor- 
tunately they never know, and they never appreciate 
their condition until it is too late. It is not the strength 
of conquerors, but the weakness and stupidity of those 



86 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



with whom they deal, that gives them the mastery. One 
of the prime causes by which men lose their birthright, 
in matters of state rule, lies in the habit which men con- 
tract of allowing or authorizing other men to do work 
that they ought to do themselves. They have too many 
agents. These agents finally become themselves the 
principals. If we should go back in history, particularly 
in old German and French history, we would find that 
people lost their rights and privileges as freemen by 
careless and stupid surrenders on their part, and by 
steady and never-ending encroachments on the part of 
their rulers. Originally the people had all the power — 
legislative and judicial, and to a large extent the execu- 
tive power also. They had few agents and no masters. 
They did their own work and attended to their own af- 
fairs. That is how it came that they were free men. 
But gradually they increased in wealth, and with wealth 
came a desire for enjoyment and repose. They came to 
have agents, or officers, and they surrendered one right 
after another until finally they found themselves, as they 
might have expected, in the power of the very men they 
had selected to serve them. Originally the king was 
only a servant of the people. Now he is the master. 
Here let us quote what Henry Graullieur says in this con- 
nection : "Of what use are printed constitutions, if the 
state controls the population, if the citizens have become 
political children or dummies unable to control and over- 
rule their agents ? How can the national estate thrive, 
if the owner retires and goes to sleep during many years, 
after empowering the manager, the agent, to act as he 
pleases, to engage in foolish ventures, to spend all the 
cash, mortgage the property, and to keep him practically 
under lock and key ? What difference does it make if 
this estate is a republican sheep and cattle farm, or a 
monarchical vineyard?" Is this not exactly our case 
to-day in America ? Are not our people practically 



GOVERNMENT. 



87 



asleep, so far as affairs of government are concerned, and 
do they not leave everything to officers whom they do 
not know and whom they did not even have the pleasure 
of naming ? Do not these officers do just as they please 
with both ourselves and our property ? Do we ever ask 
them for an account of their stewardship ? Do they not 
put a mortgage on our farms every time they make an 
appropriation ? Was not the $9,000,000 wanted for the 
canals in New York a mortgage on every man's estate in 
the commonwealth ? When we are so foolish or so 
willful as to do business in this way, or to allow it to be 
done in this way by others, should we wonder if we 
finally find ourselves in the condition of vassals, bonds- 
men, slaves ? We get what we deserve ; when we are 
too indolent, or too ignorant, to attend to our own affairs, 
we really ought to leave the business to some one who is 
more enterprising and ambitious than ourselves. If the 
agent or representative finally takes all we have, that is 
simply our misfortune, and we have no right to com- 
plain. Our people are too passive and too accommodat- 
ing by half. Other people before us had the same weak- 
ness, the same unfortunate proclivities, the same danger- 
ous tendencies, and they came at last to the end that we 
ourselves are approaching at the present time. 



Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made 
men upright, but they have sought out many in- 
ventions. — Eccl. 7:29. 

When will people be ready to concede the truth, that 
men rule men in this world not by applying force, as has 
been commonly supposed, but through the medium of 
education — by deceiving men, by impressing upon their 
minds as truths certain points or premises which are not 
truths. A bible is the first great educator for all the 



88 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



civilized races ; in that book the people are being taught 
the sublime doctrine of humility and obedience — obedi- 
ence to God their master, first, and to their parents and 
the constituted authorities afterward. Why should men 
not be willing slaves, with such lessons, directly from 
God, being continually impressed upon their minds? 
The schools, the schoolmasters and the school books 
come next, and they repeat and enforce upon mankind 
the great lessons which are revealed in our book of life, 
the Bible. Again we ask, how could we expect men to 
grow up to become anything else but slaves ? How 
could they ever become free men ? When they are 
born, they are helpless, and they grow up to become 
men with their eyes continually bandaged and their 
hands always manacled. How could they ever become 
independent, when the whole world and even God him- 
self is opposed to them? But they have justice and 
truth upon their side, and justice and truth are more 
powerful at last than either God or the world. Justice 
and truth are slow, painfully slow in their processes, but 
they are uniformly found to be irresistible in the end. 

Men are ruled by ideas, not by force. Men are never 
forced to do anything. Punishments are applied and 
tortures and torments are inflicted not with the hope of 
forcing men to do what is wanted done, bat to remind 
them of the lessons taught in the Bible and the schools, 
and to impress upon their minds the necessity of being 
willing servants and dutiful children. That is solely 
what punishments are for. 

Our rulers discourse much about justice and right, but 
they do not seem to know what justice and "right is. 
Justice is not simply what some man, or a set of men, 
happens to want. No, it is something far beyond and 
above that. Justice is not something made and changed 
every time the legislature meets or every time the king 
or the president decrees. Justice is not a matter of 



GOVERNMENT. 



89 



legislation or decrees any way, and it has no necessary 
connexion or affiliation with either. Justice is what the 
world, the thinking, reflecting, part of the world, decides 
to be right. There is no other justice than this, and all 
ordinary makers of justice — our kings, our dictators, our 
chief executives, our legislators, our judges — all these 
are mere pretenders, usurpers, and nothing more. Jus- 
tice is not a one-man affair, nor is it the affair of a dozen, 
a hundred or even a thousand men. It is not a matter 
of numbers, and it cannot be determined by votes. Jus- 
tice is wholly a matter of interpretation, and those are 
the best interpreters of justice who have studied nature 
most and learned its lessons best. But under no con- 
sideration should one man be accepted as the interpreter 
for other men Every man must interpret for himself, 
and especially so in all matters pertaining to justice and 
right. He whom we accept as our interpreter is certain 
to become in the end our master. The priests of the 
Middle Ages were accepted as the interpreters of the 
Scriptures, and it is well known that they ruled the 
civilized world with all the power of an autocrat. 

TVe should look with an eye of intense suspicion upon 
all men who assume to be interpreters of God, of law, of 
justice. As a general thing they are impostors. Ask 
such men to show their commission from the Deity, and 
see what they will say. No, one man has just as much 
right as another has to be the interpreter of God, or to 
be God's vicegerent on earth. One man interprets God, 
or nature, in one way, and another interprets him in an- 
other way. Who shall presume to say which is the 
most nearly correct ? It is not the rich men, the strong 
men, the great men, nor even the learned men that are 
always the best interpreters. There are fools in all 
classes, as there are knaves in all classes, and any one 
who fails to recognize that fact is sure to make a mistake. 
Bear in mind that when men talk so earnestly and argue 



90 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



so vociferously on what God wants, what God decrees, 
or what the state wants or the state decrees, or even 
what the people want or the people decree, it is merely 
what they themselves think or what they themselves 
want. A little reflection will enable any one to see that 
it is impossible to determine what God thinks, what the 
state thinks, or even what the people think. A man 
might hunt to eternity and he would find it impossible 
to discover God, or the state, or even the people. Where 
is God, where is the state, where is the people ? Or who 
is God, who is the state, who is the people ? When we 
come to talk on serious matters, it is well to get down to 
facts and first principles, and what are the facts and first 
principles in this case ? 

It should not be forgotten that there is no universal 
justice, as there is no universal reason and no universal 
God. As a matter of fact, justice, reason, and even our 
God, is for us simply a local matter. Our idea of God 
differs from the God of all other people — and so our 
reason and our ideas of justice and propriety also differ 
from their ideas. Morals are likewise purely a local 
affair. 



" What, art thou afraid!" "Not to kill him, 
having a warrant, but to be damned for killing 
him, from the which no warrant can defend 
meT — Shak. 

The time has come when the conduct of men in charge 
of government should be measured by precisely the 
same standards and judged in the same manner as we 
would measure and judge the conduct of other individ- 
uals. Indeed, it should be ever borne in mind that the 
conduct of government officials is, under all circum- 
stances, simply the conduct of certain individnals. What 



GOVERNMENT. 



91 



is done by government, is merely what this or that man 
does in the name and under the protection of govern- 
ment. There was a time, not long since, when the pre- 
vailing theory was that the king could do no wrong, and 
therefore he was not considered responsible for his con- 
duct, either before God or man. But the world has 
made some progress during the last century, and the 
doctrine of the divine right of kings has become practi- 
cally obsolete. But, unfortunately, we still have another 
doctrine that is just as unreasonable and unfounded, 
and that is the doctrine of the divine right of govern- 
ment, of legislatures and of those who, being in authority, 
act as officers of the law. In fact, when properly con- 
sidered, the doctrine of the divine right of government, 
or of officers of the law, is nothing but the old doctrine 
of the divine right of kings presented in another shape 
and applied in another manner. People are possessed of 
the absurd notion that anything that the government 
and its officers do must be right, even when they know 
that it is wrong. It will be remembered that a hundred 
years ago or more people had the same misconception in 
regard to the divine nature of kings. But it does not 
require any great amount of brains or penetration to en- 
able any man to see that there is not the slightest founda- 
tion for such a belief. Everything that is done in this 
world, in human affairs, is done by men and for men. 
There is no government outside of or apart from men 
Governments are found to be myths, as gods have been 
found to be myths. There are no supernatural agencies 
for men to encounter in the affairs of life, and all our 
dealings are simply those of men with men. This is the 
unquestioned fact of the case, and it is time that we 
brushed the cobwebs away from our eyes, so that we may 
look around and see things in their true light. Instead 
of appealing to the patriotism of men and asking them to 
do this, or refrain from doing that, because the govern- 



92 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



ment or the country demands it, let us appeal simply to 
men's sense of propriety and justice,; and have them do 
things or leave them undone, because they have con- 
sulted their own hearts or their own consciences and find 
these things to be proper and right, or the reverse. 

But as a matter of fact we know that the government 
is continually doing wrong, not only to its own citizens 
but to the people of other countries. This is undoubt- 
edly true, unless prerogatives are to be granted to govern- 
ments that are not granted to individuals ; or unless we 
are to measure the conduct of citizens by one standard 
and that of the officers of government by an entirely 
different standard. A citizen is presumed to respect the 
rights and feelings of other men, whether they belong to 
his own or some other country. He is not allowed to 
make war upon other men merely because he has a 
grievance or imagines that he has one. But why should 
nations have the right to make war upon other nations 
under any circumstances ; why should they be permitted 
to go forth with gunpowder and dynamite to slaughter 
and despoil those who oppose them ? The true doctrine 
is that all men are brothers, and we should not adopt at 
this late day the old and forgotten doctrine that every 
man is our enemy who does not belong to our clan, or 
at least to our country. Indeed, nations are rich and 
strong, and therefore they have much less excuse for 
doing wrong or perpetrating crimes than an ordinary 
citizen would have. A government or state should fur- 
nish in its own policy a type of good morals and honor- 
able action which its citizens could well afford to adopt. 
The true doctrine is that wrong is never right under any 
conditions, and wrongs committed by governments are 
more inexcusable than wrongs committed by individuals, 
who are weaker and more defenceless. Indeed, there 
can be no possible excuse for a wrong under any state of 
circumstances. Even the plea of self-defence would not 



GOVERNMENT. 



93 



justify the perpetration of an act of injustice. If we 
should allow people to excuse themselves for their wrongs 
in any case, they could always find some excuse for any 
crime that they might wish to commit. There is really 
no palliation for crime, or for wrong-doing generally. 
An act is either right or wrong, and the conditions under 
which it is perpetrated have nothing to do with the ques- 
tion of culpability. Men should do right at all times, and 
not simply when it is found to be pleasant or convenient. 

Few think, few realize how monstrous are the wrongs 
committed by the government upon the citizens who 
come under its sway. Few think and few realize how 
numerous these encroachments are, and how wicked and 
villainous men may become when they know they have 
the power of the state at their command. Every govern- 
ment is despotic, and it could not exist a moment if it 
were not permitted to usurp the rights and destroy the 
property of its citizens. Every government is founded 
upon usurpation and conquest in the first place, and its 
authority could not be maintained even for a brief time 
without the exercise of force. Indeed, government is 
nothing but power applied to citizens. Justice and 
propriety are matters about which people in authority 
have little or no concern ; when a man has authority, 
he does as he pleases, and justice and propriety are 
things that are never considered in such a connexion. 
The prevailing doctrine is, that whatever is lawful must 
be right. It will be remembered that all government to- 
day is founded upon the antiquated idea of infallibility, 
and hence also upon the doctrine of irresponsibility, on 
the part of government agents. But people will awake 
some day and see the matter in a different light, and 
then we shall not have so much state infallibility as we 
have at present. Government requires force, because 
it is always in the wrong, and because it always opposes 
the wishes and sentiments of the people. If government 



94 THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

were in the right, and the people realized that fact, no 
opposition would ever be encountered by the officers of 
the state. People are inclined to resist, and force is re- 
quired, because they feel that they are being wronged. 

What can be more absurd, more unjust and more 
outrageous than the assumption that the state, or the 
government, might arrest and imprison citizens, or even 
put them upon trial for their liberty or their lives? 
Such a thing could only happen on the belief or on the 
assumption that the state is the lawful master, and the 
citizen is simply the abject and helpless slave. But 
how does the state become our lawful master and how 
do we become its humble servants? Nobody has ever yet 
given any reason for such a state of things, except that the 
state is the stronger. We as men would not allow one 
citizen to arrest and imprison another — we would resist 
the attempt to do so as an outrage. Why is it not 
equally an outrage for officers of the law to do the same 
thing, even though it is done in the name of the state ? 
The only plea that is made in such cases is that of neces- 
sity and self -protection. But a plea as good as that and 
as valid every way would justify any crime that has 
ever yet been committed. 

Men should not talk about liberty in a country where 
the government can arrest and imprison a man at will. 
No man can be said to have liberty when his fate lies 
wholly in the hands of another man who can do with 
him whatever seems to himself to be necessary or desir- 
able. When nothing stands in the way of the commission 
of crime but the want of excuses, these can always be found 
whenever occasion demands, especially when the interested 
party is the all-powerful state. This fact has been demon- 
strated times without number in the past, as any one 
will find if he take the trouble to read history. 

Why is a man arrested and imprisoned ? Because he 
is guilty of some crime, some offence ? Most certainly 



GOVERNMENT. 



95 



not. More innocent men are arrested yearly, or brought 
into court on some false pretence, than guilty men. 
Any rascal can bring an action against the most inno- 
cent or the most upright of citizens, causing him an in- 
definite amount of trouble, expense and mortification, 
and the state will stand ready at all times to aid and 
protect this villain in his nefarious work ! Strange, is it 
not, monstrously strange and most unaccountable, that 
such things should be tolerated in a country that boasts 
of freedom and independence ! And yet they are so 
common as to attract no attention. Any scoundrel can 
have the most honorable and most inoffensive citizen in 
town arrested and imprisoned, if he chooses to swear to 
enough to secure a warrant. And yet the state poses as 
the protector of citizens ! Protects them how, when, or 
where ? In too many cases the state is the faithful and 
potent ally of villains and criminals. In fact it is often 
found that its own agents are themselves villains and 
criminals. What sort of people were those who pros- 
ecuted, persecuted and finally imprisoned Dreyfus? 
They were high functionaries in the state and officers of 
high rank in the army. But were they honorable and 
fair men ? 

Let the thoughtful reader stop a moment and con- 
sider. A just rule would seem to be that the state 
should punish or prosecute, if at all, those only who are 
known to be guilty of wrong-doing. But is that the 
practice, in this or in any other civilized country ? Most 
assuredly not. The state is ready to lay violent hands 
upon anybody, no matter who it may be, nor how inno- 
cent or harmless, if some unscrupulous party will only 
enter a complaint ! The state proceeds against a man 
not because he is guilty, but merely to ascertain, by its 
own iniquitous and inquisitorial methods, whether he is 
guilty or not. In olden times, and not so very long ago 
either, they put the " screws " to the victim in order to 



96 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



extort a confession, or in some way ensure his convic- 
tion. Awful state of things, when any man in the coun- 
try, no matter how spotless his character nor how blame- 
less his life, is liable to be arrested and imprisoned, at 
any moment, on the charge of having committed some 
horrible crime ! All it wants is the evidence, either true 
or forged. The accused may be tried, as Dreyfus was, 
with all the power of the state against him. with every 
officer of the law doing his utmost to convict him and 
hurry him on to disgrace and death ! In some cases the 
law is so framed, or so distorted, that it is impossible 
for the victim to prove his innocence under any circum- 
stances. But. possibly, by some stroke of good fortune, 
the accused is acquitted. In such cases, he is turned 
loose with as little ceremony as we would dismiss a vi- 
cious beast that we did not care to keep in confinement 
any longer — as if that were all there was of it ! But is 
that all there is of it ? No, it is not all there is of it. 
The state cannot wash its hands so coolly and declare 
itself free from all guilt. It cannot enter the plea of 
necessity, nor offer any other plea, to excuse itself. It 
has been guilty of an awful act of injustice, and one that 
deserves the reprobation of all mankind. No amount of 
power or authority, no amount of legitimacy, can give 
dignity to a crime, or even palliate an act of injustice. 

Consider for a moment how the state tries its victims. 
How does the state determine the innocence or guilt of 
those who are accused ? Has it some infallible means, 
some patent, some rule that never fails, something that 
always holds the guilty one and allows the guiltless to 
escape ? No, it has no such means at its command, and 
it does not pretend to have any. It has the same means 
at command that every community and every individual 
has, and no more. It has rules of evidence, rules of 
conviction, but these rules are always made to suit its 
own wicked purposes. With the making or the working 

6 



GOVERNMENT. 



97 



of these rales, the victim had nothing at all to do — 
it is wholly a one-sided business from beginning to end. 
The accused is given a chance to defend himself, but not 
till after he is bound hand and foot. How wonderful 
it is that anybody thus bound and hampered should 
ever escape ! We venture to say no one does escape, 
when the government decides in favor of conviction. 
This has happened in thousands of cases. In later times, 
the most notable case was that of Dreyfus, already re- 
ferred to. But there were numerous cases like that of 
Dreyfus during the reign of Henry VIII. , of England, 
and of Louis XIV., of France, to say nothing of the 
Reign of Terror. It is very easy indeed for the state to 
have a man proved guilty, even though he may be en- 
tirely innocent. Thousands of times it has been done, 
and no doubt it will be done thousands of times here- 
after. 

Proved guilty, how ? What is the process by which 
a man is proved guilty ? It is done by artful, and often 
by arbitrary means. The result is reached, a conviction, 
but never a demonstration of guilt. Decisions are often 
reversed — showing at least that some of them are wrong 
— and that more have not shared the same fate, arises 
simply from the failure to appeal. What means has the 
court for ascertaining the facts of the case which the 
public does not possess ? None, absolutely none. The 
court depends entirely upon hearsay, and often upon the 
mere words or impressions of ignorant, incompetent, prej- 
udiced, and sometimes perjured witnesses — and after 
the trial is ended, the work all done and the verdict 
rendered, what is given to the public beyond an opinion? 
What does the public have beyond the opinion of the 
judge, the jury, the witnesses, the lawyers? On such 
opinions as these, often the opinions of enemies, men go 
to prison daily, and sometimes to the gallows ! It would 
seem that the court should ascertain the guilt of the 



98 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



accused before convicting him, and even before arresting 
him, but the coart as a rule knows no more about the 
matter than any ordinary man does that is met on the 
streets. It merely believes, and on such a frail thing as 
belief, it decides such a momentous question as that of 
a fellow citizen's life or liberty ! The court places great 
stress upon inferences and conclusions, and upon certain 
signs and symptoms that are as unreliable as the au- 
guries of Eome. Again we retnrn to the original con- 
clusion, that the court has no peculiar gift or exclusive 
means enabling it to ascertain the guilt or innocence of 
the accused. Then, why should it be allowed to arrest 
and try a man for crime or for an offence of any kind ? 

It is well known that trials have always been matters 
of luck or chance, instead of being what we might ex- 
pect, a demonstration of the facts in the case. The old 
ordeals were trials very much like ours at the present 
day, and it is well understood there was much chance 
about the result. In those cases the appeal was made to 
Grod, and ours are also supposed to be appeals to Grod. 
Every witness to-day swears by Grod that he will tell the 
truth and nothing but the truth. It is not at all strange 
that the result of a lawsuit is so uncertain, when we bear 
in mind that the court has no peculiar or special means 
of ascertaining the truth. If the courts knew more and 
pretended less, we should have a different lot of decis- 
ions from those now reported in the law books. 

But shall we go on trying and condemning men, when 
it is known that we have no reliable or infallible means 
of ascertaining the truth? Our want of confidence in 
our own judgment or conclusions is evidenced by the 
immense number of trials, reversals and retrials that are 
reported. Men really ought to get justice from the 
state, but as a matter of fact, justice is rarely obtained 
from such a source. What men do usually obtain is a 
great bill of costs and considerable vexation of spirit. 



GOVERNMENT. 



99 



A court that presumes to try and condemn men should 
have an intelligence equal to that of God — and in that 
case the ceremony of a trial might be dispensed with. 
It is only fallible men, who either do not want the truth 
or who do not know how to secure it, that are obliged to 
resort to the hocus-pocus of a trial in court. 



Should the people rule ? 

Should the people rule ? Should anybody rule ? It 
is clear enough that no people has ever been able to rule 
justly, intelligently and successfully for any length of 
time. What really happens when the people are sup- 
posed or believed to rule ? A people is not an organ- 
ized body. It has no will, no purpose of its own; it 
can form no resolutions, and it has no means of having 
them executed, even if they had been formed. A peo- 
ple is merely a disorganized group of independent beings 
who are supposed to act each and all upon their own 
individual will and their own personal responsibility. 
But what the people is supposed to do is really what a 
few individuals, a few men, initiate or introduce ; and 
the people, or the major portion of them, merely endorse 
their action, accept their views and follow their counsel. 
They acquiesce, that is all. That is the only way that a 
people accomplishes or performs anything. But it is 
really astonishing to notice, when the matter is fully 
examined and it comes to be viewed in the proper light, 
how very little the people as a body have to do with the 
achievements of this world. The idea or scheme, what- 
ever it is, in the first place always originates in the brain 
of some one man, and the undertaking is carried forward 
to its final consummation by a very few men. What 
do the people do in all such cases ? They simply sub- 
mit, they consent, endorse, co-operate, that is all. They 



Lof C. 



100 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



are purely and solely instruments, and they have no mind 
or will that they can properly call their own. 

In all matters of government, in all affairs that con- 
cern the welfare of a people, the thinking, the inquiring, 
the reflecting, the resolving, is always done necessarily 
by a very few individuals. The rank and file have little 
or no knowledge of the question at issue, and as a rule 
they are not accustomed or inclined either to think or 
inquire. We repeat, a people is always an instrument, 
a mere instrument, and nothing more. A people, a 
nation, is simply a herd, and in its action or movements 
it has all the characteristics that belong to a herd. Each 
individual is affected largely by his surroundings, and 
he is a very different man from what he would be if he 
were standing alone and acting on his own responsibility. 
He is affected by contact and contagion. He naturally 
does what he sees others do. and so far as possible he 
does it in the same manner as he sees it done. Every 
crv. every note of alarm excites or frightens him. He 
seldom stops to inquire — he is moved solely by impulse, 
A man standing or acting alone is not easily led or 
moved : he is inclined to hesitate and inquire. Not so with 
those who are associated with other men in large bodies. 

It is the rankest, most profound nonsense to talk about 
a people's governing itself, or having a policy of its own, 
or knowing what its best interests may be in any 
case ! As a matter of fact, a people as a body really 
knows nothing, and of itself, when unmoved and un- 
directed, it is absolutely incapable of accomplishing any- 
thing. As we have indicated before, the onlv thing that 
it can do is to follow, endorse, imitate, acclaim — and that 
is precisely what every people does throughout its whole 
history. We have grown into the habit of telling what 
nations or people do, or what they accomplish, but we 
speak in such cases very inaccurately and very unad- 
visedly. Nothing could be farther from the facts of the 



GOVERNMENT. 



101 



case than such, an assumption. We speak of a people's 
will, a peoples decision, but we never know what the 
will or decision of a people is. The people as a body 
has no will. Surely an election never declares the will 
nor registers the decision of a people. Thousands who 
are entitled to vote fail to go to the polls, and thousands 
upon thousands of those who go have no will or decision 
of their own to register. Again, a very considerable 
portion of our people, the women and all the males 
below twenty-one, are not allowed to vote. How ab- 
surd, is it not, to talk about elections registering the 
will of the people ! Such a thing never has happened, 
and it never could happen. Elections are only cere- 
monies, mere forms to be observed, but they really in 
themselves demonstrate very little. Certain it is they 
do not give any evidence of the will or wishes of the 
whole people. As a rule in American politics, the voter 
merely decides which leader he will follow, or which 
party he prefers to identify himself with. So it is with 
herds in all cases. A herd would not be a herd if it did 
not follow some leader. If every member of the group 
took his own direction, the group would disappear at once. 

The theory in all governments where the people are 
supposed to rule or to decide upon the action to be taken 
in any case, is that public sentiment governs, as if public 
sentiment were a natural growth, or some fixed or de- 
terminate factor. But public sentiment, or public 
opinion, is an artificial production, rather than a natural 
growth, and it is as changeable as the winds or the 
weather. It is impossible that the opinion of the public 
should ever be formed upon a sound and rational 
basis. The people have not the information or evidence 
at hand upon which to base a safe conclusion ; neither 
are they as a general thing capable of that strict analysis 
or that careful comparison of facts which alone leads to 
logical results in such inquiries. As a rule, public 



102 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



opinion is not founded so much upon the reason, or 
upon the justice or facts of the case, as upon what the 
party papers, or the party boss, or perhaps what some 
unscrupulous but accomplished demagogue says on the 
subject. Public opinion, as we see it evidenced at our 
elections, is a very unstable and uncertain quantity. It 
is one thing to-day and another to-morrow ; it is one 
thing for one party and just the opposite thing for an- 
other party. But an opinion that changes from day to 
day, or even from year to year, or an opinion that 
changes according to the party to which a man belongs, 
cannot be a safe or correct opinion to be governed by. 
It is impossible to devise any plan by which the opinion 
of the whole public can be ascertained. A fiction is 
used here, as in so many other cases in governmental 
affairs, and a portion of the public is taken to represent 
the whole body. What this man and that man says, if 
they happen to be influential and have votes at their 
command, is taken as an indication of the sentiments of 
the mass. President McKinley obtained public opinion 
in that way when he decided upon the policy to adopt in 
dealing with defeated Spain. Even a general election 
indicates at best merely how one party feels or what one 
party prefers. What the minority wishes or how it feels, 
is an unknown or unrecognized factor. It is of no account. 

Really, representative government as we have it to- 
day is the monumental farce and fraud of the Christian 
era. As a matter of fact, the people, any people, taken 
as a whole, are unable to govern either themselves or 
any one else. Government, to be successful, must be 
founded upon intelligence, upon sound judgment, as 
well as upon a full knowledge of all the facts that bear 
upon questions of government. How many men are 
there in any body of a thousand, or even ten thousand 
men, that could fairly meet these requirements? Only a 
few men, comparatively, can conduct their own indi- 



GOVERNMENT. 



103 



viclual affairs successfully. But how much more diffi- 
cult is it to conduct the affairs of a whole nation suc- 
cessfully ! Is it to be wondered at that government, so 
far as the good of the people is concerned, is always 
more or less of a failure ? The job is too extensive and 
too complicated for any human being to master. To 
govern men is the work of a god — and even gods do not 
always succeed in the undertaking. 

Finally, what sort of people are they who presume, 
in all the affairs of life, to lecture us and instruct us, 
even undertaking to point out to us the short and sure 
route that leads to life everlasting ? "Who are the men 
who assume to be so much wiser and better than we are? 
Who are the men who legislate for us and act as our 
guides and judges ? Who determine for us what is right 
and what is wrong, and who inflict punishment upon us 
when we happen to be naughty ? Who are those kind, 
Christian people that take such an unbounded interest 
in our welfare at all times ? Strange to say, they are the 
commonest people in the world! Many of them have 
proved to be failures in the management of their own 
affairs ; many are foreigners who have not lived in this 
country long enough to speak and write our language 
intelligibly, and who really neither know nor care about 
the wants and needs of their fellow men. These people 
— our governors, masters, teachers and judges — are often 
ignorant, and still oftener willful and perverse. We 
are led to exclaim with the inspired writer : " What is 
man, that Grod should be mindful of him? " ( However, 
God could not have cared much for men, or he would 
have left their destiny in better hands than those in 
which it is now placed. 



A new era seems to be dawning. Questions are now 
asked that have not been asked before, and answers have 



104 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



been given to those questions that would have horrified 
the public only a decade or so since. Government has 
latterly developed to such an extent, and it presents itself 
in such odious and offensive forms, that to the thinking 
and reflecting portions of mankind it appears more hid- 
eous than was ever dreamed of before. This new 
thought, this new development, this new revelation on 
the subject of government is not confined to any one 
race or any one people. Wherever civilization is found, 
and wherever thoughts are published and books are read, 
these same questions are asked — not by any means by 
all, but certainly by a very respectable and very im- 
portant minority. This is especially true of Germany, of 
Kussia, of France, of England, of Italy, and to a limited 
extent of America also. 

There is a prevailing unrest, a feeling of intense dis- 
gust with the processes and results of government as 
witnessed throughout the civilized world at the present 
day. That things are wrong, woefully, shamefully 
wrong as they are, no fair-minded or sensible man dis- 
putes. The evil is conceded — the remedy for the evil 
is alone in question. No doubt ages will elapse and 
painful throes will be experienced by the world for a 
long time, before any useful or reliable results can be at- 
tained. People are slow to come to an agreement, and 
it takes a long period of agitation before it is possible to 
make their thoughts and conceptions harmonize. Until 
they do harmonize, no relief will be obtained and the 
evils complained of, instead of diminishing, will con- 
tinue to steadily increase. That has been the history of 
this world thus far, and history always repeats itself. If 
history did not repeat itself, with average certainty, there 
would be no way of living for men in this world — there 
would be no chance for calculation, no need of study or 
thought, no possibility of progress or improvement of 
any kind. All the calculations of mankind are based 



GOVERNMENT. 



105 



upon one premise, that what has happened is sure to 
happen again, under like conditions and like circum- 
stances of course. There may be slight variations, but 
the results in all cases will be substantially the same. 

The civilized portions of the world have had. for long 
years past, a great many isms in connexion with these 
burning questions of government and human rule. We 
had Fourierism, Saint Simonism. Mormonism, Socialism, 
Communism. Populism. Anarchism, and scores of other 
isms that it is not worth our time to mention now. TTe 
have had them, and we have them still An ism is 
never lost : it never really disappears. It may take a 
new form, a new name — but it is the same old ism still. 
Unfortunately, no two isms agree, and what is still more 
unfortunate, no two believers in the same ism agree. 
But without agreement, without conceit of action, noth- 
ing will be done, nothing will be accomplished. xs"o one 
man achieves any important results without assistance, 
without co-operation Until men. many men at least, 
finally come to an agreement — a century or centuries 
hence — we shall be without a remedy. We can agitate, 
and agitate, and agitate, and that is all we can do. But 
agitation does finally lead to unification, without which 
unification, no material progress is ever made by men. 
This steady, harmonizing, assimilating process is a fear- 
fully slow affair. It takes so much discussion, so much 
study, so much effort, and so much time to get ten or 
a dozen men to think alike on any subject ! What a 
curious, what an inexplicable thing is the growth of 
belief ! Christ was right when he intimated that men 
had to be regenerated — born anew — before they could 
have a new belief. Men can say they believe, and still 
they do not believe. It is an easy thing for a man to 
say he believes, but it is not an easy or a simple thing 
for a man to change his belief, or what is the same 
thing, to appropriate what is to him a strange thought. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be par- 
takers of other men's sins. — Tim. 5:22. 
Sin is not imputed when there is no law. — 
Bom. 5:13. 

The law worketh wrath ; where no law is, there 
is no transgression. — Rom. 4:15. 

What can mere laws do without morals? — 
Horace. 

Men are supposed to be governed wholly by laws — 
not laws made by themselves, either in whole or in part, 
but laws emanating from some higher authority. But 
who shall presume to make laws to control our actions ? 
It could be only some one who is wiser and better than 
ourselves. But among men there are no such persons. 
The only legitimate law-maker is God. And what evi- 
dence have we that God ever made any laws for the 
government of men in their relations with other men ? 
We have no such evidence. We cannot point to a 
single law and assert with any kind of assurance that 
this came direct from God. All the laws that we know 
anything about are man-made. Those in the Bible are 
certainly man-made. It is admitted that men wrote 
them, that men interpret them and that men execute 
them There is not the slightest evidence that God had 
anything more to do with what is contained in the Bible, 
or in any other book of laws, than there is that God 
dictated what is found in this book now before the 
reader. 



LAWS. 



107 



However, up to a recent elate, a hundred years ago or 
so, all human laws were made in the name of God. Grod 
was supposed either to have dictated them or to have 
sent some representative to legislate in his stead. But 
latterly in law making, (rod seems to be left entirely out 
of consideration. All human laws are now man-made, 
and for that reason alone they cannot be binding on men 
whose wishes were not consulted when these laws were 
enacted. 

As a matter of fact men want and need no laws, and 
especially no written laws. Written laws are inflexible ; 
they lack elasticity. They afford but one and the same 
rule for all the varied and multifold circumstances that 
are found in e very-day life. They are a Procrustean 
bed. It is well known that a rule may be just and 
proper in one case, and quite unjust and improper in 
another and a different case. No general law or rule 
can be devised which shall harmonize with justice ; and 
if a law is just for one, it is certain to be unjust for some 
other person. No two cases are exactly alike, and so no 
one law can justly apply in both cases. Again, no law 
can be framed so carefully or so wisely that the wicked 
cannot evade its provisions. In practice, the wicked 
evade the law whenever they find any inducement for 
doing so, leaving the simple and unsophisticated alone 
to follow the strict construction of the law. Laws are 
not made for all men to obey ; certain it is, that it is only 
a portion of every community that obey the law. No 
matter how excellently a law may be drafted, plenty of 
lawyers can be found who can twist the construction 
into any imaginable shape. All laws, no matter who 
writes them, have to be interpreted, and the interpreter has 
an all-powerful influence upon their application and effect. 

Nature has no law, no rules, no mandates, and men 
need none. Nature allows men to do as they please, 
and then they must take the consequences as they come. 



108 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Nature does not forbid men to jump into the fire, if they 
desire to do so, but it leaves them to suffer when they 
decide to take such a foolish step. Men should do the 
same thing in their dealings with men. 

The only laws for enacting which there could be any 
excuse, would be local laws. Men who desire to live in 
a community should adapt themselves to the feelings, 
wishes and sentiments of those with whom they find 
themselves associated. Those who are unwilling to 
make themselves agreeable to those among whom they 
reside, should seek some other location. The wishes of 
the community, expressed in any plain or intelligible 
manner, whether called a rule, a law, or a custom, should 
be observed by all. Such rules are not to be enforced, 
for no one has any power or authority over another, 
whether in the community or elsewhere. None the less 
will every man find it to his interest to recognize the 
sentiments of every community so long as he remains 
one of its members. The same rule should prevail in 
the case of a community that we find in every well 
organized society. Every member observes strictly the 
conditions laid down in the constitution, or he seeks 
other associates. 

Free men need no laws ; and brave men will not toler- 
ate them. Laws are for slaves only. 

All laws at the present day are mere contrivances by 
which the purposes of a few designing men can be most 
easily subserved. They are not precepts, they are not 
rules, they are not principles to be applied at all times 
to all men. They are merely enactments passed by 
those who happen to have the power at the time, which 
enactments are usually mere permits for certain men to 
carry out their plans and accomplish their purposes with- 
out the risk of being punished if detected. Laws orig- 
inally were decrees of kings or rulers ; now they are the 
decrees of the party in power. They are declared in the 



LAWS. 



109 



name of the people, but usually the people have little or 
nothing to do with them, except to yield prompt and 
faithful obedience after they are published 

Laws never make men better ; they make men worse. 
If there were no laws, there could be no violations of 
laws, and the enacting or the publishing of a law is itself 
an inducement for violation, for there is nothing that 
people so delight in doing as that which is forbidden. 
No command emanating from human sources has any 
power to do good. Law at best is only an empty man- 
date, and people are at liberty to obey it or not as they 
choose. The power of law lies solely in its enforcement, 
and this depends wholly upon the will of men. Men 
may or may not enforce laws as they prefer. Even the 
Bible, inspired as it is said to be and coming direct from 
God, is overburdened with laws that no one thinks of 
observing. People vainly imagine that there is protec- 
tion in law, but there is absolutely none. Men alone 
protect, and they do this wholly as they wish or feel. 

Law itself is conservative ; it is opposed to all change, 
progress or development. All great movements are uni- 
formly opposed to laws as laid down by men. 

Law does not render men moral ; law is usually op- 
posed to good morals. Law never made, and it never 
will make, any man good. Men do not do good because 
they are given certain commands. There is no goodness 
in obeying commands. Men do good solely because 
they are good, and if they were not good, their course 
would certainly be evil. Legislation never suppresses 
crime ; it is really the source of crime, the occasion and 
the cause of crime. Every crime that this world has yet 
known had its origin in some enactment, some rule, some 
law, some mere dogma. The aborigines of America and 
the old Germans never knew such a thing as a crime in 
the proper sense. Among these people punishments as 
we have them, were not known. 



* 



110 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



The effect of law lies wholly in its execution, and if it 
is not executed, it has no effect at all. No matter how 
a law reads ; the important part is, how it is interpreted 
and enforced. It is a matter of no moment how many or 
what laws are on the statute books, if they are not 
executed. The real law-maker is the one by whom it is 
enforced. Law does not control a man's action. Every 
man does as he pleases at last, law or no law. It is true, 
he sometimes is pleased to do what he does not like. 
Legislation finally depends upon the courts, the inter- 
preters and the executors of the law, rather than upon 
the original law-makers themselves. This is a vital 
point and should not be overlooked. It is a matter of 
small moment how a law reads ; the important question 
is, how is it understood and how is it applied ? 



All things are lawful unto me. — l Cor. 6:12. 
And they asked him saying: Is it lawful to 
heal on the Sabbath day? — Matt. 12:10. 

What is legitimacy? Wherein do illegitimate things 
differ from legitimate things? They do not differ, or 
rather the difference is wholly imaginary. The essence 
of legitimacy lies wholly in a form, a sign, a tag, a seal, 
a chalk-mark, a trick, a maneuver, a ceremony. But 
really if there be such a thing as legitimacy, it ought to 
have better ground to stand on than this. People should 
not talk about regularity and legitimacy. There are no 
such things ; or rather, all things are equally regular and 
equally legitimate. All of earth's children are legiti- 
mate, and it is absurd to pretend that some children are 
less legitimate than others, or perhaps are not legitimate 
at all. 

If it were not for laws and government, or rather for 



LEGITIMACY. 



Ill 



law-makers and governors, we would not think of such 
a thing as illegitimacy. But with those who have 
usurped authority — and all rulers or governors come 
in that category — legitimacy is of the utmost importance. 
Usurpers are great sticklers for forms, ceremonies and 
observances. They are very sensitive about everything 
that looks like neglect or a failure to recognize their 
authority. A king would not be a king if his legitimacy 
were not regarded as established. And yet, as a matter 
of history, illegitimacy always comes before legitimacy. 
Before we had laws there was a time, a long time, during 
which we had no laws. Before we have order, we must 
have disorder ; order always comes from disorder. The 
first king is always a usurper. He is really not a king, 
because he is necessarily illegitimate. He was not born 
in wedlock. A man to be a duke must be either born a 
duke or created a duke. He cannot make himself a 
duke by any possible contrivance. Napoleon was not an 
emperor in fact. He merely held the position of an 
emperor. He was, as the Germans claim, a parvenu. He 
had no record, no pedigree, no platform, no constitution 
to stand on. He built his own platform. He had noth- 
ing on which to base his pretensions, but his conquests. 
Oliver Cromwell was not called a king. He was not a 
king, though he held the place of a king for years. He 
was the Protector. William, the Norman, with all his 
power, was simply a conqueror, and not a king. 

Let us cease to talk of legitimate things — legitimate 
marriages, legitimate children, legitimate action, legiti- 
mate trials, legitimate verdicts. An illegitimate mar- 
riage is not a marriage, and so there can be no illegitimate 
marriages. Again, we remind the reader that legitimacy 
is only a tag, a chalk-mark, which really amounts to 
nothing in the end. All things are legitimate, as all 
things are equally regular and equally natural. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge 
against the children of thy people, but thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. — Lev. 19:18. 
It is an honor for a man to cease from strife. — 
Prov. 20:3. 

Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to 
me; I will render to the man according to his 
works. — Prov. 24:29. 

Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous. — 
Prov. 21 A. 

But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil. 
—Matt. 5:39. 

Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide 
things honest in the sight of all men. — Rom. 
12:17. 

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and 
clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from 
you, with all malice. — Eph. 4:31. 
If a man say, " I love God," and hateth his 
brother, he is a liar. — 1 John 4:20. 

The foregoing are wise sayings taken from a book that 
abounds in words of wisdom, and that affords much 
sound instruction for mankind. But how few there are 
who bear these sayings in mind or give them any heed 
whatever ! 

Nothing can be more senseless, more unmanly, more 
unjustifiable, and we may say more inhuman, than re- 
venge. It has not a single aspect or attribute that 
might be called commendable. One wrong never bal- 

7 



REVENGE. 



113 



ances another wrong; one wrong never justifies another 
wrong. No one is excusable for doing wrong under 
any circumstances. What one man does is never an 
excuse for what another man may do. Every act is in- 
dependent of every other act. That one man is bad, 
affords no reason why another man should be bad. ISTo 
man was ever made better by punishing him, but plenty 
of men have been rendered worse. Breaking a man's 
head does not subdue his will nor soften his heart. 
The effect is just the reverse. Evil is the result of evil, 
and wrongs multiply wrongs. We must approach a man 
with a friendly spirit, if we really wish to touch his heart 
or control his action. There is not power enough in 
heaven or on earth to compel an obstinate man to do 
what he will not. The greatest conquerors the world 
has yet produced have always failed in their efforts to 
control the will of their subjects. This will is absolutely 
beyond and above their control. If there were only 
some way to control this will, slave-dealers and slave- 
drivers would have an easy and pleasant time of it. If 
conquerors could only control the will of the people, 
they would retain possession of their authority indefi- 
nitely, while as a matter of fact they are themselves 
subject to that will which they are so anxious to control. 

We vainly imagine that we must punish our enemies 
in order to protect ourselves against future injuries or 
further encroachments. But in practice protection or 
safety is not the result of such a course. Our acts of 
revenge certainly do not tend to make our enemies 
either wiser or gentler than they were. The effect of 
violence is to enrage men and to incite them to renewed 
acts of aggression. Revenge affords not the slightest 
protection to any one — its effect is just the opposite. 
Punishments, which are always based upon a desire for 
revenge, fail to protect society, as we see evidenced in 
the constant increase of offences and crimes. Punish- 



114 



THE XEW DISPENSATION. 



t 



ments afford not the slightest remedy for the evils of 
society : they simply gratify men in their brutal thirst 
for revenge — an eye for an eye. a tooth for a tooth, a life 
for a life. 

Eevenge may be sweet, but it is always expensive. 
It ought not to be even sweet. To delight in the pains, 
sufferings and tortures of even our enemies is devilish. 
All reason, all sense, all humanity, all self-interest is 
opposed to revenge. Eevenge has absolutely no excuse 
for its existence. When a man considers himself 
avenged, what has he to show for his investment — his 
time, his labor, his money, and the painful feelings he 
has endured ? Revenge is barbarous in all its characteris- 
tics — it is even childish. A person might as well kick 
a stone over which he had stumbled as to seek to punish 
a man who had given him offence. Men who make it 
a rule to punish their enemies always find plenty of 
business on their hands ; and uniformly this business 
will be found to be of a very unprofitable character. 
If we wish to be avenged of our enemies, all we need to 
do is to wait : if we will only be patient, we shall be 
sure to be satisfied at last. A man who wrongs us will 
wrong others, and such a man will finally be found 
standing alone, with society unmistakably against him. 
The wicked cannot prosper, because they oppose both 
nature and the people among whom they reside. If 
they prospered and were esteemed, they could not be 
considered wicked. 

>; If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this 
law, then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, 
and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues." — 
Deut. 28:58. The spirit of all law, and of all makers of 
law, is fully illustrated in this text from Deuteronomy. 
Culprits are not to be punished because it will do them 
good, or it will do the world good. Xo, that is by no 
means the object. The purpose is not to confer some 




REVENGE. 



115 



lasting benefit upon any one, but simply to afflict some- 
body with plagues and torments. Such a spirit is not 
only malicious but diabolical, and it should never find a 
place in the heart of any man. Revenge should be dis- 
carded by all mankind, and certainly by Christians, who 
pretend to love Christ. Revenge always multiplies pains 
and sorrows, and never affords relief to anybody. Let 
us turn our back upon revenge, as we would upon our 
worst enemy. Let us drop it entirely and cease to give 
it either notice or consideration. Perhaps we need not 
love our enemies ; love at best is carnal, fleshly, and it 
belongs to the body rather than the mind. There is 
nothing intellectual in love, as there is nothing in- 
tellectual in eating. But we should not hate our ene- 
mies ; we should hate no one, for hate, as alreadv in- 
timated, is devilish and brutal. 

With revenge, pride should be suppressed and dis- 
carded. Great ambition, high aspirations and an ex- 
alted opinion of our own excellence and worthiness — all 
these things are unworthy of a place in the hearts of 
men. He that seeks such things will find when he 
comes to die that he has spent his life in the pursuit of 
vanity. People would think more of us, if we did not 
think so much of ourselves. 

It is true these doctrines are for better men than we 
usually find at present. But men will change after a 
time ; they are improving daily, not all men, it is true, 
but a man here and a man there. They are disregarding 
the Bible with its vengeful utterances and its wrathful 
and inexorable God. They are receiving the benefits of 
reason and enjoying the light that reason affords. Im- 
provement in this case progresses slowly, but that is the 
way it always progresses. There is much hard work 
yet to be done, and it will take many centuries before we 
shall notice any great advancement in this direction. 
The Devil is not dead, and the report of his taking off 



116 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



has been circulated falsely in order to lure simple people 
into over-confidence and inaction. We do not mean, of 
course, the old Devil, with tail and horns and hoofs, 
but the spirit of evil, which is really worse than the 
original Devil himself. A devil that you cannot see 
is much more to be dreaded than the Devil that you 
can see. You have a fair chance of discovering a 
visible, tangible devil ; you have some idea of his ap- 
pearance and you can hardly mistake him when you 
happen to encounter him. But an invisible devil lies 
always in ambush ; his batteries are uniformly masked, 
and those who seek him never succeed in finding him. 
Indeed, he is never recognized when he is found. He al- 
ways pretends to be somebody else, and under some sort 
of alias he usually escapes. 

It is for ourselves to do right at all times and under all 
circumstances, no matter what other people may do or leave 
undone. 



May we never forget the wonderful power of kind 
words, kind actions, kind attention, and gentle treatment. 
Kindness is really more powerful than armies. Kind- 
ness builds up, encourages, sustains ; armies only tear 
down and destroy. In destruction alone the power of 
warriors lies. Armies conquer only when their op- 
posers fail ; they advance only when those who obstruct 
their path are either slain or overcome. An army has 
not a single redeeming feature. 

It is a well known fact, and one that has been demon- 
strated over and over again a thousand times in the 
history of the world, that you cannot repress evil by 
doing evil, but, on the contrary, the more you contend 
with evils the more dangerous and more vigorous they 
become. It is quite evident that if we did not fight 



EEVENGE. 



117 



crime, we should have incomparably less of it than we 
have now, and perhaps we might eventually have none 
at all. In every direction, and under every condition, 
the more we combat our enemies, the more we strengthen 
them, and the weaker we become ourselves. Eevenge, 
and all resistance that comes from a spirit of revenge, is 
uniformly expensive and exhaustive. It is a difficult 
achievement to annihilate our enemies. It has been tried 
over and over again and it has failed. We are fighting 
murderers and thieves constantly, and yet their numbers 
go on increasing at an alarming rate. The same may be 
said of intemperance. The more the subject is agitated, 
for some reason or other, the faster drinkers and drunk- 
ards multiply. Nothing is more evident than that a 
certain amount of resistance strengthens any cause. If 
the early Christians had not been opposed as they were, 
they would not have made the sacrifices they did, and 
hence they would not have prospered as they have. 
The well known attempt to destroy the Huguenots in 
France will be remembered by all. Over 20,000 were 
killed in this massacre, and yet it was only a short time 
before the Huguenots as a party were much stronger 
than before. It must be borne in mind that sympathy 
operates as a strong power on the side of the oppressed. 

Christ gave the best of advice when he said : " Re- 
sist not evil." But to avoid evil, to seek to prevent its 
recurrence or repetition, is a different matter. Such a 
course may be considered wise. The best way, how- 
ever, is to have nothing to clo with evil-doers and evil 
ways. If other men act wickedly, we shall not mend 
matters by doing wickedly ourselves. 

Shall we consider a book a good book which teaches, 
among many other bad things, the awful doctrine that 
" Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood 
be shed?" Is the Bible really a holy book? Is it a 
proper book to place in the hands of the young ? 



i 

I 



CHAPTER IX. 



Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. 
—Luke 6:35. 

Let no man deceive you, he that doeth righteous- 
ness is righteous. — /. John 3:7. 
For though L preach the gospel, I have nothing 
to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, 
woe is unto me, if 1 preach not the gospel. — 
1. Cor. 9;16. 

Throughout the whole Bible we are taught the perni- 
cious doctrine of rewards and punishments. We are to 
do good not for the sake of doing good, but for the re- 
ward that we may expect ; we are to avoid evil, not be- 
cause we abhor it, but because we dread the pain that 
may follow evil-doing. In other words, men are hired 
to do good, not on principle, not because it is manly or 
honorable, but for the profit that may be found in the 
work. Nothing could be more corrupting than such a 
doctrine. It educates men to be cold and selfish ; it 
cultivates a feeling that goodness in itself has no value 
or merit. "Where such a doctrine prevails, there can be 
no truly good and worthy men. Under such a system 
men will be good only so long as they find it to their 
interest to be good. They will put on a semblance of 
goodness, believing that a spurious coin will answer just 
as well as the genuine article. They will be Pharisees 
in practice. 

As a matter of fact, there should be no rewards, as 



\ 



REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 



119 



there should be no punishments. Why should a man 
be rewarded for what he has done? His action is either 
good or bad, or right or wrong. If it is bad, of course 
he should not be rewarded. But if it is good or com- 
mendable, should he be rewarded? We certainly do 
not feel the necessity of rewarding every just, kind or 
humane action, and a truly good man would not accept 
compensation for such service. Should any man be re- 
warded in any case ? Most certainly not. What he did 
he chose to do, preferred to do ; it was what he ought 
to have done. On what basis, then, could he found a 
claim to compensation ? No one who thinks and reflects 
believes for a moment that a man deserves either pay or 
thanks for doing what he felt that he ought to do, or 
what he was disposed to do. There can be no goodness 
in hired service ; the term goodness would not apply in 
such a case. 

Again, there is no real merit or demerit in any action. 
~No man does what he feels and knows to be wrong. 
Men do not do things because they feel that they ought 
not to do them, but for just the opposite reason ; and we 
would not differ with them on the propriety or impro- 
priety of their action in any case, if we did not view 
things in a different light from that in which they view 
them. Good men do honorable and proper things, 
simply because they are good ; and bad men do wicked 
things, because they have been improperly taught, be- 
cause their communications are evil, or because their 
propensities are wicked. Keally, both good and bad 
men do what they do because of their associations and 
character, and because of the circumstances that sur- 
round them. As a matter of fact they could not have 
done otherwise ; or probably they would if they could. 
If the bad and the good could have exchanged places, 
each would have done just the opposite from what was 
done. If this were not the case, all men would act exactly 



120 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



alike under the same circumstances. Men do differently 
because they are different — because they see differently, 
feel differently, believe differently. Then, why should 
one be rewarded and the other punished? There can 
be no sense or justice in such a course. If the poor were 
in the place of the rich, xhey would do very much as the 
rich do ; and so would the rich, if they were in the place 
of the poor. This is because the poor are no better at 
heart than the rich are, and they deserve no more praise 
or credit. 

There is no justice or propriety in awarding glory 
and honor to some men and obloquy and disgrace to 
others. In the eyes of all reflecting, thinking and sensi- 
ble men, one act is as meritorious as another. No man 
is really deserving of fame. There is probably not a 
soldier in the ranks that is not entitled to as much praise 
and fame as the commander who is accorded all the 
glory. The soldier did his duty, did it to the utmost of 
his ability. Did any commander that the world has yet 
produced ever do more ? No man ever does anything 
that he cannot do ; and he never does anything unless 
he has the ability and the opportunity, both of which 
things are matters that are outside of every man's con- 
trol. Besides, no man ever performed a great action 
without a large amount of assistance. Within very 
moderate limits, one man is just as strong as another, 
just as good as another, just as great as another. Then 
how does it come that one man stands so much higher 
than another in the estimation of the public ? A man 
who lifts a hundred pounds, if that is all he can lift, is 
entitled to just as much credit as the one who lifts a 
thousand pounds, if he has the strength that enables him 
to lift such a weight. The effort is probably the same 
in both cases. 



CHAPTER X. 



The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness tliereof. 
—Ps. 24:1. 

How shall any man become the owner of property? 
From whom, or whence, shall he obtain his title? It 
cannot come from God, because God grants no titles to 
any one ; moreover, it is not known that there is a God. 
The state, as God's representative, assumes to grant titles, 
but it does so wrongfully. When the state presumes to 
grant titles to one man, it does so at the expense of 
others. It places itself between men of equal rights and 
sides with one while opposing others. That is the course 
uniformly pursued by all states. But the state has 
really no right to interfere in the matter. Indeed, there 
ought to be no state in the first place. The state claims 
to serve the people, but in doing so it puts forward a 
false and deceptive plea. The state labors not for the 
good of the masses, but for its own particular interest and 
advancement. 

The state could only grant titles on the theory that it 
owned all the land in the first place. But that is known 
to be a groundless assumption. The state never right- 
fully owned a foot of land. The only title to which it 
can lay any claim is the title which robbers and pirates 
have. But no just claim was ever founded upon robbery 
or conquest. 



122 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Men have no title to property, for the reason already 
indicated, namely, that there is no power that is qualified 
to grant titles. The community, in view of the best 
interests of all concerned, might concede to all of its 
members the right to the undisturbed possession of all 
that has been acquired by their own labors and of all 
that they have saved with the view to meeting the 
present and prospective wants of themselves and family. 
But beyond this, property can have no basis in reason. 

The pretended titles to property, acquired sometimes in 
one way and sometimes in another, have been the direct 
or indirect cause of a large share of the ills of this world. 
It will be remembered that most of the quarrels of civil- 
ized life arise from questions of property. Most of our 
crimes are crimes against property, and nearly all our 
laws are enacted for the protection of property. 

And surely people should not be allowed to own and 
control property after they are dead. Even if we con- 
cede to men the right to accumulate property which 
they know they will never want, while living, they 
should certainly be denied the right of clinging to that 
accumulation after they are dead and have turned to 
dust. In other words, there should be no right of in- 
heritance. Parents might help their children while 
living, but the children should help themselves, at least 
after their parents are gone. 

How much misery and wrong this world might escape 
if all laws of inheritance and testamentary rights were 
abolished at once ! From the time that wise step were 
taken, we should cease to have rich men and large 
estates, and the world would be far better off without 
them. As a rule large estates are a damage to any com- 
munity. Avarice is not only a folly but a sin, and still 
avarice is very common. 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



123 



Thus far, in this work, we have devoted our attention 
to principles, rather than practice. We have been en- 
deavoring to ascertain what we should believe and what 
we should discard. We have been trying to discover 
some basis of action and establish a foundation upon 
which we can place our feet with some assurance of 
safety. It has been assumed all along in the past, if not 
believed, that we have a God upon whom to rely and 
to whom we must continually turn our eyes, if we would 
proceed in our earthly career with any hopes of success. 
We have not only had God as our Father, Master, Guide, 
Protector, but we have had his revealed word, the Bible, 
for our instruction. But now there is a change in the 
scene. To a large extent we have lost our faith in God ; 
or at least we do not consider it safe to rely wholly upon 
his aid and protection. As to his revealed word, we 
have found that it does not answer our purpose at the 
present time, though it may have done very well a hun- 
dred or a thousand years ago. There are so many im- 
provements, so many inventions, of late, and the affairs 
of men are making such wonderful advancement in 
every direction, that we feel the need of some book more 
modern than the Bible. 

What shall we do ? How shall we do ? The remain- 
ing portion of this book will be devoted to the consider- 
ation of such questions as these. We shall proceed 
upon the assumption that at last mankind — or at least 
the sensible and intelligent portion of mankind — are of 
age, and are able to take care of themselves without 
either advice or assistance from any heavenly source, 
and even without the guidance and control of any 
earthly masters. 

We will turn our attention to practical life under the 
New Dispensation, and consider what is the best course 
for us to pursue in order to secure an honest living and 
lead a life that is both agreeable and satisfactory. Any- 



124 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



thing beyond that is hardly worth our efforts, and its 
attainment could not justify any burdensome sacrifices 
on our part. We have not the space to consider all the 
serious questions that might be treated in this con- 
nexion, and hence we will confine our attention to such 
as are deemed most vital or important. 



PEACTICAL LIFE 

UNDER 

THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

L 

The proper study of a man is not how to die, 
hut how to live. — Spinoza. 

Let us live while we live ; let us live for the world in 
which we find ourselves. It is extremely uncertain that 
we shall ever see another. Let us not be duped and 
deceived with hopes and promises any farther. It is un- 
wise to count upon the promised land, or promised 
haven of rest. It is absurd for us to consent to be 
slaves in this world in order that we may enjoy freedom 
in some other world that probably we shall never see. 
Let us get some of our rest and satisfaction in this world, 
and not wait for an uncertain inheritance on the other 
side. If our masters and advisers have such supreme 
confidence in the hereafter, let them take that part of 
the inheritance, and we will be content with this world 
here below. At least we are willing to take our chances. 

It is quite useless for us to endeavor to make any 
preparations for the other world, because we know noth- 
ing about such a world. We do not know, and we have 
no means of knowing, what may be required of us ; we 



126 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



have no reason to believe that anything at all will be 
required of us. So, let us go about our business like 
sensible men. Let us endeavor to adapt our life to the 
world in which we find ourselves, and leave all other 
worlds to those who delight in the study of questions 
that are abstruse and insolvable. There may be a here- 
after, as there may be people who reside in the moon, 
but both are outside the realms of our knowledge, and 
we ought not to trouble ourselves to talk about things 
of which we know nothing and in which we have no 
concern. If there really is a future world, we shall 
know all about it when we get there — and probably not 
before. 

We know it is useless to place food before the dead, 
for it is certain they are not able to partake of the re- 
past. After their departure, we can do nothing for 
them, but we may do much for ourselves. We should 
be kind and just to all while they live — we can be of no 
earthly benefit to them after they are dead. To look 
after our own concerns and care for ourselves in this 
world, is a business that will engross substantially all 
our attention. To wish to take care of ourselves is not 
selfish in any disgraceful or discreditable sense. It is 
what God or nature intended, if (rod or nature ever had 
any intentions. It is doubtful whether either God or 
nature ever had any intentions. There is no evidence 
in that direction. 

IL 

Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways 
and be wise, — Prov. 6:6. 
In all labor there is profit. — Prov. 14:23. 
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor 
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither 
thou goest. — Ecc. 9:10. 



LABOR. 



127 



Let him that stole steal no more ; but rather let 
him labor, working with his hands the thing 
which is good, that Tie may have to give to him 
that needeth. — Ephes. 4:28. 
I would rather be ill than idle. — Seneca. 

In civilized life, labor is the first condition that must 
be met by those who are trying to obtain a living. Men 
need not be slaves, either to themselves or their business, 
but a certain" amount of labor will be found necessary to 
their continued existence. Labor ought not to be con- 
sidered an affliction or a hardship ; it is rather a blessing. 
Labor gives health, and without a certain amount of ex- 
ercise, no man can be said to truly enjoy health. Health 
is one thing that servants cannot bring at our command. 
If we want a sound body and desire such healthful 
pleasure as comes from judicious and well regulated ex- 
ercise alone, we must work for it; and it happens that 
exercise is something that cannot be taken by proxy. 

Every man should be proud of the fact that he pos- 
sesses health and strength, and that he is both able and 
willing to gain a livelihood by the sweat of his own 
brow. ISTo man, unless he happens to be helpless, should 
employ servants to do what he is abundantly able to do 
himself. A man who lives upon the earnings of other 
people is simply a parasite, whether he happens to be a 
man of wealth or only a mendicant. Men do not want 
servants any more than they want masters, and if inde- 
pendence is something worth having for ourselves, it 
ought to be equally desirable for others. If wealth has 
no other recommendation than that it enables us to live 
upon the labors of others, it affords us but a very unsafe 
foundation on which to build our hopes. 

A large share of our ills comes from delegating to 
others what ought to be done by ourselves. If we do 
things ourselves, we know how they are done, and they 



128 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



ought to be well done. What we hire others to do we 
are never certain of finding well executed. If men did 
not delegate their authority to agents and place their 
affairs in the hands of representatives, as is so often done 
in matters of government, it would not be such a 
common thing as it is to see men lose their inheritance 
and become the slaves of others. Plenty of people sell 
their birthright for a mess of pottage, and make a serious 
mistake in doing so. 

It must be remembered that life in this world is a 
serious matter, and those who imagine that they can run 
a career of ease and enjoyment for an indefinite length of 
time without meeting some mishaps at last, are certain 
to find themselves mistaken in their calculations. Peo- 
ple may get pleasure incidentally, but those who make 
pleasure a study and devote to it a large share of their 
time and attention, are sure to be disappointed in the 
end. "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man." — 
Prov. 21:17. 

Pleasure is not obtained by going in pursuit of it. 
All the real pleasure that we get in this world must 
come to us incidentally, in connexion with our ordinary 
daily efforts. All other enjoyment is not worth seeking. 
Besides, it is injurious and corrupting in its influence. 
It is beneath any man's dignity to make a business of 
seeking pleasure under any circumstances, and it is a 
mistaken idea that any man was ever sent into this 
world merely to enjoy himself. If he happens to find 
some pleasure in his daily walks, he is lucky and he 
ought to feel thankful for his good fortune in that direc- 
tion. Thousands of men are ruined annually simply be- 
cause they have imagined that securing personal enjoy- 
ment must be their main business. 

All labor, if fairly and sensibly viewed, should be a 
pleasure and not a task. It is not the fatigue that 
makes labor burdensome, but the simple fact that it is 

8 



EDUCATION. 



129 



work, and work is always looked upon as slavish. If peo- 
ple could only be induced to believe that work is play, 
they would find it a source of positive enjoyment. Does 
the healthful boy ever tire of his play, no matter how 
much exertion is required? The harder he works, and 
the more he perspires in his play, the better he likes it, 
and the more thoroughly does he enjoy the fun. So, it 
is not the toil, the exertion, that is objectionable in labor ; 
it is the simple fact that labor is work, and work is 
tabooed in fashionable society. Work, according to the 
Bible, was given to man as a punishment for his trans- 
gressions, and that is another reason why it is looked 
upon with so much disfavor among men. Among an- 
imals that know nothing of our Bible, work is not bur- 
densome. The birds that build their nests in the spring 
find in their efforts in that direction their greatest source 
of enjoyment. What they do, they want to do, and 
when their work is done, they undoubtedly look upon it 
as an achievement, and they are satisfied. It is to them 
the source of unalloyed pleasure. 

III. 

Get wisdom— get understanding. — Prov. 4:5. 
Fools die for want of wisdom. — Prov. 10:21. 
Ever learning, and never able to come to the 
knowledge of the truth. — II. Tim. 3:7. 
Knowledge puffeth up— and if any man think 
that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing 
yet as he ought to know. — /. Cor. 8:1. 

But all instruction is not wisdom ; whether it is or is 
not wisdom, depends upon the character of the instruc- 
tion. At the present day we have a vast amount of 
instruction that is worthless, and much of it, being 
misdirected and misunderstood, is positively injurious. 
Many presume to teach who are without proper qualifi- 



130 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



cations ; they teach what they themselves have not 
mastered, and therefore the place they fill is merely that 
of blind guides. Teaching is not a matter of mechanics. 
It must come from the heart, and if the heart is not in 
proper condition, or in the proper place, the office it 
performs will not prove satisfactory at last. As a 
matter of fact, people are not taught, they learn. Learn- 
ing is not a passive state, but an active process. No 
instruction is ever imparted ; there is nothing that passes 
from the teacher to the pupil. All the learning that any 
man ever gets comes from the growth and development 
of his own soul, and where there is no such growth or 
development, there can be no real learning. The part 
of the teacher is merely to aid in this development — 
nothing more. 

"Wisdom is the principal thing." — Prov. 4:7. Learn- 
ing alone will not answer. Thousands of men have 
learning, and yet they are confessedly lacking in un- 
derstanding. Even what they claim to understand, they 
do not, in many cases, understand fully or perfectly. 
We teach in our schools altogether too many things. 
We take up too much of the early life of every in- 
dividual in trying to give him "an education/' We 
confine him to the house for too many hours in the 
day, and we extend our course of instruction through 
too many long years. In most cases, to a large extent, 
it is time wasted. Besides, we are always teaching what 
we believe, and what we have been taught, and not what 
we know to be true. There is very little in this world 
that any man knows to be true, if indeed there be any- 
thing. Would it not be better to direct our efforts 
towards helping the child to open his eyes and thus en- 
able him to see for himself? Instead of doing all the 
walking for the pupil, the better way would be to teach 
him how to walk himself, and then let him proceed on 
his own account, with perhaps a touch or a suggestion 



EDUCATION. 



131 



here and there, simply to steady and guide him in his 
movements. The time is rapidly approaching when it 
will be understood that this and this alone should be the 
office and duty of the true instructor. If men were al- 
ways to remain slaves, the case would be different. We 
might then give them our creeds, dogmas and doctrines, 
and compel them to accept them. But as we have seen 
all along thus far, there is no evidence to justify the 
claim that any man is to be the servant or slave of an- 
other. 

The pupils should never be burdened with theories 
and dogmas. What the teachers do not know and do 
not understand — and that covers a vast field — should be 
left untouched and unnoticed. For practical purposes, 
most of our higher branches are valueless as studies for 
schools. They enfeeble rather than strengthen, and they 
confuse rather than enlighten the learner. This world 
does not need culture so much as it needs true wisdom 
and understanding. There are too many things learned 
in school that must be unlearned in after life. We have 
too many blind guides. There are too many who do not 
know how to guide themselves, and of course they are 
not the proper ones to guide others. Years of time may 
be saved for each pupil by confining his studies entirely 
to what he will probably need to know in practical life. 
There are thousands and thousands of things that pupils 
do not need to know, and therefore they should not 
bother their heads with them. Any pupil who has 
learned to read his own language freely and understand- 
ingly has already acquired the power which would give 
him all the learning he will ever need. Too many years 
are wasted at the present day in school and college. 
The best of all teachers is experience, and that can be 
obtained only by daily contact and intercourse with the 
world. It will be found that, in life, what is most im- 
portant is not what people know, but what they can do. 



132 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Education as it is found in all civilized countries is 
part of a deep-laid scheme which is kept constantly in 
view by those who seek to promote the interests of 
government. Napoleon was the most eminent instructor 
in such tactics, and he set the example which is being 
followed in Europe and America to-day. The state 
educates the children, and educates them to suit its own 
selfish purposes. All pupils are supposed to be cut over 
the same pattern; their whole education centers upon 
the idea of becoming willing slaves, when their course 
of instruction is completed. Every child is educated to 
be first of all a patriot. It is sweet to die for one's na- 
tive land, if the authorities so order ! One scholar is 
supposed to be just like every other scholar, as every 
soldier, duly uniformed, appears to be a duplicate of 
every other soldier. Soldiers are presumed to have in- 
telligence enough to understand orders, and beyond 
obedience little is expected of them. So it is with pupils. 
Every pupil is treated as if he were finally to become 
merely a machine. His individuality is never recognized 
— indeed, slaves and infants know nothing about in- 
dividuality. 

Education ought in every case to be an individual 
matter, but in practice as we find it, it is a class matter. 
How absurd is all classification — as if one pupil had 
necessarily the same wants, needs and capabilities as 
other pupils ! Every man has his own individual aims 
and his own destiny, and what he needs is an individual 
education adapted to the needs of his particular case. 
All that a man can acquire in schools successfully, is 
the elements ; it should be the chief aim of education to 
start a man in life, and then let him " paddle his own 
canoe." If our books were properly written, the pupil 
would need no instructor, after leaving the elements. 

Finally, in all our schools, too much attention is given 
to what is called the cultivation of the intellect, and too 



EDUCATION. 



133 



little consideration to the healthy development of the 
body. The moral nature also is universally neglected. 
Pupils should not be treated as if they were necessarily 
either rascals or imbeciles. They are entitled to the 
same confidence and respect that is accorded to men, 
and if they are given time enough, and have the oppor- 
tunity, they will eventually grow up and become men. 
There are some signs of advancement in this direction 
already, both in our schools and in our armies. There 
is a growing tendency towards treating both pupils and 
soldiers as if they had some intelligence and character, 
and as if they were capable of doing many things well, 
without any help, suggestion or direction from anybody. 
There is too much red tape and machinery connected 
with the management of our schools — in fact, too much 
tomfoolery all around. There are too many forms and 
ceremonies, there is too much parade, and there are too 
many burdensome examinations to which pupils are 
periodically subjected. Education properly understood 
is not a complicated affair, but a very simple matter in- 
deed ; and it is a mistake to treat the business as if there 
were something about it that is profound and mysteri- 
ous. There is not a mother in the whole animal king- 
dom that does not know how to teach its young the 
lessons they need, without any formality or any signs of 
mystery in the performance. With her, instruction is 
quite an every-day affair. 

There should be far more teaching at home, and far 
less in schools. It often happens, perhaps it generally 
happens, that young pupils, by association, learn more 
vice than virtue in our public schools. The mother is 
the true and proper teacher of mankind — indeed, the 
only safe guide. 



134 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



IY. 

But 1 say unto you. Si^ar not at all.— Matt. 5/34. 
Judge not. that ye be root judged. — Matt. 7:1. 
Judge not and ye shall not be judged; condemn 
not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, 
and ye shall be forgicen. — Luke 6:37. 
Let us not therefore judge one aiwther any more. 
—Bom. 14:13. 

Therefore, thou art inexcusable, 0, man, whoso- 
ever thou art that judgest ; for wherein thou 
judgest aiwther, thou condemnest thyself; for 
thou tliat judgest doest the same thing. — Rom. 2:1. 

It is well on towards 1900 years since Christ gave the 
command, or laid down the rule, that man shonld <; swear 
not at all" He also repeatedly commanded that men 
should not judge each other. There is no question 
about these commandments — none about their meaning, 
their authenticity, or then application. They are not 
only in the Bible, but they are the words of Christ. 
Then, why should they be so generally disregarded, even 
by professing Christians? Xo satisfactory answer in 
this case has ever been given, and none can be given 
Some, it is true, affect to have grave doubts as to the 
extent to which the language of Christ might apply. 
But properly there can be no reason for question, The 
language is without qualification or conditions. " Swear 
not at all." which means take no oaths. The Quakers 
so understand the injunction, and therefore they refuse 
to take oaths. An oath is not made stronger by calling 
(rod to witness, or by touching some sacred object when 
the affirmation is made. As a rule people who will tell 
lies will swear to them, and an oath does not help the 
matter in the slightest degree. 

The practice of taking oaths should be discontinued 
as useless and senseless. It is a ceremony without mean- 



JUDGE NOT. 



135 



ing and its only object is to give the affirmation a ficti- 
tious value and a certain stamp of legality. Oaths never 
had any special power, and they have still less now 
when there are so many people who do not really be- 
lieve in the existence of a God. Indeed, with the dis- 
appearance of Grod, a great many structures that belong 
to society must fall. With the oath, all that is sacred 
about a trial in court must also disappear. If there is 
nothing holy or peculiar about an oath, then every trial 
in court is nothing but an ordinary inquiry, conducted 
by a certain number of men, and every statement made 
in the case has the same force and value that it would 
have if made upon the highway or in any public hall. 
As a matter of fact, a certain number of men in court 
have no more right to try and condemn a man than the 
same number would have who happened to discuss and 
inquire into the matter at some other time and in some 
other place. The state has no right to condemn men on 
such evidence as is produced in court, nor on any other 
evidence. What we call testimony in court is never 
conclusive, and a conviction in court, it is well under- 
stood, is no demonstration of the prisoner's guilt. Too 
many innocent men are convicted to admit the justness 
of any such claim 

Christ was right when he said: "Judge not." Grod 
is the only one who would be in a position to justly and 
properly condemn, but unfortunately we know no Grod 
whose opinion in such a case would be obtainable. ~No 
man can with any propriety condemn another. He 
never can know the motives, and he will always fail, 
either from ignorance or incapacity, to take into account 
many of the most important circumstances of the case. 
What an awful responsibility a man assumes when he 
sits in judgment upon the conduct, action and motives 
of his fellow men ! Men do it in society, and they do 
it in court, but in either instance it is a most unjust and 



136 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



unwarranted proceeding. " Condemn not, and ye shall 
not be condemned." No words that Christ ever uttered 
were worthier of the Son of God than these. 

It must not be forgotten that in all forms of trials, 
the evidence on which the accused is convicted is more 
or less of a farce. In other words, it really proves noth- 
ing. In former days men were convicted, or proved 
guilty, by combats, ordeals, and tricks or ruses of vari- 
ous kinds. For instance, if a man was beaten in a com- 
bat with his adversary, he was pronounced guilty ; if a 
witch was thrown into the water and floated, that was 
taken as proof of her guilt ; if a man could handle hot 
iron or dip his hands into boiling water without injury, 
he was considered innocent. In the latter case the court 
could, and it often did, protect the accused by allowing 
his hands to be bandaged. Anybody could handle hot 
iron or dip his hands into boiling water, if his hands were 
well protected in some way. This was the sort of proof 
relied on in other days, and it was considered as good as 
the best — it certainly was as good as the times afforded. 
The evidence was looked upon as the work of God. If 
the accused was innocent, the people felt assured that 
God would protect him by giving a favorable turn to the 
evidence. We have somewhat different ideas to-day, 
but we still look upon a trial as God's work, and we 
imagine that in some mysterious way he, though invis- 
ible, conducts the proceedings, determines the guilt and 
pronounces the verdict. It is believed that God at least 
takes the witnesses in charge ; he is also supposed to 
instruct and direct the court. A trial without a God 
would be no trial at all ; it would be a monstrosity, an 
imposture, and the people would so consider it. And 
yet we know, as well as we know anything, that, even 
with God's presence, there is a great deal of false swearing 
in every trial, on the part of witnesses who are either 
wicked or incompetent. Much of what they testify to, 



EVIDENCE. 



137 



or refuse to testify to, depends upon chance rather than 
upon God. At best a trial is always uncertain in its re- 
sults, and the character of the whole performance is 
often absurd and disgusting. 

No man is ever proven guilty ; there is no such thing 
as proof in the sense in which the term is commonly un- 
derstood. There is no such thing as demonstration ; it 
is impossible to demonstrate any fact. Proof does not 
make things true ; if they are true, they are so without 
proof. And if they are untrue, no amount of proof can 
make them otherwise. 

Proof as given in court is not proof in itself. It is 
merely hearsay and conclusions. All evidence is merely 
an opinion. The witness gives his opinion; the lawyer 
gives his opinion, and finally the judge comes forward 
and clinches the argument by simply giving his opinion. 
He merely states what he believes, and how the busi- 
ness appears to him, and that is called the "verdict," 
which people seem to estimate so very highly. But 
even this last opinion in itself has not even the sem- 
blance of proof. 

Proof is merely a step, a movement, a proceeding, de- 
signed to affect the minds of the court, and how it affects 
the court depends wholly upon who and what they are 
who constitute the court — upon their temperament, their 
education, their interest, their prejudices, their affilia- 
tions, and finally upon their clearness or dullness of appre- 
hension. Evidence, all evidence, uniformly leads one 
man one way and another man another way. A man's 
friends believe one thing, and his enemies another, on 
precisely the same evidence. The same evidence never 
strikes any two men exactly alike, unless they happen 
to be duplicates of one and the same type, which is a 
rare occurrence. Every man who is tried in court is 
tried on opinions, and on opinions solely. No man is 
ever certain of anything, and witnesses are not more 



138 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



fortunate in this respect than other people. Every man 
who is convicted in court is convicted on opinions. It 
was so in the Dreyfus case, and it is so in all others. 

Evidence is only for people who see ; for people who 
are blind, or who refuse to see, there is no evidence and 
there can be none. The world appears differently to 
different people, because they are themselves different ; 
the world is the same, and the evidence is the same, in 
each instance; it is the people and their conclusions that 
are different. There is less in proof than many people 
imagine. Proof has absolutely no power in itself. The 
result depends, finally, upon the people, and that is the 
explanation of the fact that so many cases are reversed 
in the appellate court, on exactly the same evidence as 
that presented at the original trial. If there were any 
power in evidence, all people would uniformly come to 
the same conclusion on the same testimony. 

Then there is another branch of proof that deserves 
notice, namely, proof based upon argument, or circum- 
stantial evidence. Arguments are not proof in any sense 
of the term ; in other words, arguments affect some peo- 
ple and not others, and they affect one man one way and 
another man another way. Indeed, there are all sorts 
of proof, as there are all sorts of people. The effect of 
evidence depends upon the state of a person's mind, and 
especially upon his belief and conceived interest. What 
is proof for the Moslem is not proof for the Jew. What 
was proof for the enemies of Dreyfus was not proof for 
his friends. On this principle we may expect different 
verdicts, in the same case, before different juries and 
different courts. This explains why some reject spirit- 
ualism, while others accept it. What is indubitable 
proof for some on this question, is regarded as nonsense 
or irrelevant matter by others. How evidence is re- 
ceived, depends upon the state of mind, the education 
and the conceptions of the recipient. Proof is the most 



EVIDENCE. 



139 



uncertain of all things in its results. What is absolute 
proof for one man, is received with indifference by an- 
other — and still we go on convicting and punishing men 
on what we call evidence ! 

If proof were really proof, a man would have to be- 
lieve, whether he would or not. But, as is well known, 
belief, is largely a matter of will. Some men are so ob- 
stinate, so willful, that they will not accept any evidence 
as proof. Compulsion has no effect upon a man's faith. 

Finally, the author of this book does not ask the peo- 
ple to believe what it contains on the ground that, as he 
imagines, he has proved anything. He lays no claims to 
the power of proof ; he believes what he has said before, 
that proof is impossible. What would be conclusive 
proof for him might not be, and probably would not be, 
such for other people, with a different education, and 
different interests and inclinations. He only brings for- 
ward certain facts and calls attention to certain phenom- 
ena that have impressed him — that is all. They may 
and they may not impress others. That all depends 
upon how they feel, how they think and what they be- 
lieve. He may see, and does see many things very 
clearly, but he possesses no power to make others see 
these things as he sees them. He can simply appeal to 
these people ; he can present the case to them in this 
shape and in that ; he can call their attention to certain 
facts and phenomena which they may have overlooked 
or failed to consider — and when he has done that, he can 
do no more. But he does not pretend that he has really 
proved anything. To assume that he could prove any- 
thing for another would be the same as saying that he 
could force others to believe as he believed, and that 
is something that is impossible. He has absolutely no 
control over another man's belief or will, whether by hyp- 
notism or otherwise. Why, if we could control men's 
beliefs and their conclusions, all we would have to do 



140 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



would be to bring forward what we considered our 
proofs, and they would be obliged to believe just as we 
desired. But we know that in practice proofs do not 
work in that way. While they may be proofs for our- 
selves, they may not be so for other men. People always 
have differed, and they always will differ as to what 
really is proof. It is for this reason chiefly that the 
result in trials is always so uncertain ; and for this same 
reason, if for no other, no such thing as a trial should ever 
be held. We never can know beforehand how the evi- 
dence will strike the judge, because judges are always 
just such frail and changeable mortals as we are our- 
selves. What would sway ourselves one way or the 
other, quite independent of the evidence, would be likely 
to sway the court. If men always drew the same con - 
elusions from the same premises, then evidence might be 
relied on, but that never happens. 

We have already noticed that no man is ever proven 
guilty. Now it may be added that no man is ever tried 
fairly. There could be no such thing as a fair trial. 
There are two sides to all questions, with more or less of 
justice on both sides. But the court must decide be- 
tween them, and when it favors one it must oppose the 
other. Somebody is wronged in every decision. A fair 
trial ! How could there be a fair trial, for both sides ? 
Strangely enough trials, like a great many other wicked 
things, are exclusively state prerogatives. But com- 
munities get along without trying men or sitting in judg- 
ment on them. Why could not the state likewise dis- 
pense with trials and judgments? The community 
needs neither courts nor lawyers to help it in reaching 
its decisions. Why should they be needed in the state ? 
It seems to the author that there are a hundred or more 
reasons why we should not have trials, and not one rea- 
son why we should have them. 

A trial is only a ceremony to justify or excuse men for 



EVIDENCE. 



141 



carrying out their revengeful designs. It brings no new 
proof ; it works no real change in the status of affairs. 
The prisoner is no more guilty after conviction than before. 
The trial is supposed to enable the court to ascertain a 
man's guilt, but it never does. Indeed, if a man is not 
known to be guilty, why is he arrested and imprisoned 
before trial ? In practice, all that is necessary is the ac- 
cusation. Whether a man is guilty or not, makes no 
difference. His enemies want him punished ; a sacrifice 
is ordered and a victim is demanded. Kemarkable state 
of things in this enlightened age, is it not ? If we do 
not know that a man is guilty, why do we humiliate him 
by an arrest ; why do we put him to the trouble and 
expense of a trial ? Why imprison, why punish an in- 
nocent man as is often done? Let us get rid of the 
heathenish idea that trials and punishments are neces- 
sary, or that we punish people because they are proved 
guilty. They are never really proved guilty. We do 
not pretend to punish men because they are guilty — it is 
well known that a large share of the guilty ones are not 
even brought up for trial — no, we punish men solely 
because they are supposed to be proved guilty ! Curi- 
ous, is it not ? It is well known that the proof does not 
do the business. The court, the judge, does the whole 
thing. He can decide without evidence, and he often 
does ; he can decide against evidence, and he frequently 
does ; he can disregard evidence, and can choose what 
suits him best and reject the rest, as he often does. 
Worse than all, the victim is often convicted, as Dreyfus 
was, on forged evidence and perjured testimony. 



Is a man ever tried by disinterested parties ? Is he 
tried fairly and justly ? No. The government has the 
whole machinery in its hands, and it finds a man guilty 
or acquits him as it chooses. It has the court, the judge 



142 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



and the officers ; it makes all the laws and fixes all the 
conditions to snit itself in the first place. The victim is 
wholly in the hands of a giant that cannot be resisted. 
What can the victim do ? A man is proved guilty, how ? 
By what this or that man says — often an enemy, almost 
always an enemy, often an ignorant and incompetent 
man, and usually one who is heedless of consequences to 
others. 

Trials for a man's life or his liberty, are momentous, 
nay, dreadful things ! But what element of fairness is 
there in the whole business ? 

That monstrous misconception, that fiction, that farce, 
that fraud through which a man is to be deemed guilty 
because he has been tried and convicted ! Tried how, 
by whom and for what purpose ? 

We punish a man, why ? Because he is guilty ? No, 
because we assume he is guilty or pretend he is guilty. 
That is merely our excuse for violating the rights of a 
fellow citizen. As a rule we do not know whether the 
victim is guilty or not, and in nine cases out of ten we 
do not care. We want our way, we want our revenge ; 
or we want some money, or perhaps some advantage. 
In some way we have an axe to grind. That is why 
men are punished. Another reason is because they are 
weaker and have less influence than we have. If a man 
were stronger than his oppressors, he would not allow 
himself to be punished, and his enemies would not be so 
rash as to make the attempt. 

And who is the man to try us and find us guilty ? 
Who shall take the place of God? Are those who 
are usually selected known to be men who are peculiarly 
fitted for this sacred duty? It is well known that the 
men who sit in judgment upon the fate of other men are 
not holy men ; they are not peculiarly gifted in any way. 
They are, as the men who govern us uniformly are, most 
ordinary men. They are selfish, prejudiced, blinded, 



PUNISHMENTS. 



143 



bigoted, or perhaps ignorant, just as many other men are. 
Very often they are not even right in their minds. 
Christ says : "Judge not" But men do judge, and they 
seem to take delight in condemning other men. If it 
were themselves that were being tried, they would ac- 
quit every time. That is what comes from change of 
circumstances. 

It must be evident even to the most superficial thinker 
that if we condemn trials, we must also condemn con- 
victions. But if there were no trials and no convictions, 
of course there would be no punishments, and there 
should be none. As no man has a right to condemn an- 
other, so no man has the right to torture another under 
the pretence and claim that he is simply administering 
punishment. No man living ever had such authority 
or such a prerogative conferred upon him. To punish is 
simply to gratify a thirst for revenge. Men punish be- 
cause they are offended, and if they were not offended, 
they would never Dunish. All punishment, whether by 
incarceration or inflicting pain in some other way, is at 
the same time inhuman and unnecessary. The results 
are always evil. The world to-day would be far better 
off if there were not a gibbet, jail or prison in existence. 
Some light restraints might be necessary till the world 
became better, but nothing more. Christ was emphati- 
cally in the right when he said : " Resist not evil" — that 
is, do not combat it, do not contend with it, do not recog- 
nize it in any way. After a time such a thing as evil 
would not be known. Things may be desirable or not 
desirable for us, but there is nothing that is absolutely 
evil. At the farthest, what is evil for one is good for 
another. If we did not continually combat evil, talk 
about it, dream about it and legislate over it, it would 
soon die a natural death for want of attention. On noth- 
ing does evil thrive so well as upon resistance. Thou- 
sands of things are done by people simply because they 



1U 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



are forbidden, and because it is known that they should 
not be done. The progress of drunkenness, in opposition 
to the efforts of temperance, is one illustration. The 
more that intemperance is fought, the better does whisker 
taste in the mouth of the steady drinker. If the matter 
were dropped, and people were left to be governed by 
their experience in drinking, whether favorable or un- 
favorable, the whole matter would soon assume an im- 
proved phase. Kobody likes to submit to the dictation 
of others, whether in the matter of temperance or on 
other subjects. 

"We might notice that the master in school, the keeper 
in prisons and asylums and the father of the family seem 
to have certain important prerogatives granted them that 
are not granted to other men. They need not go 
through the formality of a trial in order to be allowed 
to convict and punish those under them. "Why such a 
radical difference in their cases? The doctrine usually 
enunciated is that every man must have a fair public 
trial : he is entitled to be tried before his peers. Why 
should there be such an anomalous departure in the 
cases above referred to ? Men usually are supposed to 
have laws to protect them against wrong and oppression. 
Should we not accord the same privilege to children, and 
even to serrants and slaves ? And should not the incar- 
cerated have some rights ? Should they have no protec- 
tion? Are they really outlaws? Are they not human 
beings ? 

It should be remembered that the basis of our whole 
criminal jurisprudence is found in the wicked laws of 
Judaism Our penalties are Jewish : our evidence is Jew- 
ish. If we had never known our Bible, we would never 
have known the barbarities of our criminal jurisprudence. 

The whole subject of punishment will be found more 
fully considered in the author's works : Radical Wrongs 
and Life Without a Master. 

9 



WEALTH. 



145 



V. 

Go to now, ye rich men.— James 5. 
Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a 
man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things which he possesseth. — Luke 12:15. 
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath noth- 
ing.— Prov. 13:7. 

The borrower is servant to the lender. — Prov. 22:7. 
For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool 
and the brutish person perish, and leave their 
wealth to others. — Ps. 49:10. 
Be not afraid when one is made rich, for when he 
dieth he shall carry nothing away. — Ps. 49:16. 
Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in 
robbery ; if riches increase, set not your heart 
upon them. — Ps. 62:10. 

It is an error to suppose that a man's chief source of 
happiness, or even comfort, lies in wealth. There is 
misery in wealth as there is in poverty ; and, under 
favorable circumstances, there may be happiness and 
comfort in wealth, as there may be happiness and com- 
fort in poverty. But a rich man is not necessarily a 
happy man, and a poor man need not necessarily lead a 
miserable life. A man's happiness depends largely upon 
health and contentment, upon the satisfaction of his 
desires, and upon the attainment of his ambition. But 
the rich have as many desires that cannot be satisfied as 
the poor have ; their aspirations are higher, more numer- 
ous and less easily attained. There are after all only a 
few things of those most prized by men that can be 
purchased with money. Money cannot buy health, it 
cannot buy contentment, it cannot buy either love, 
friendship or esteem. It costs painful efforts to secure 
wealth, and it costs still greater efforts and still greater 
pains to retain it after it is secured. Experience teaches 
that wealth, though a good thing under some circum- 



146 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



stances, is never really worth all that it costs. It is 
better to follow the proverb which says : " Labor not 
to be rich." 

Why should a man spend his time, rack his brain and 
torture his body in trying to secure what probably he 
can never use, and what he must certainly abandon 
when the day comes for his final dissolution ? It is true 
that many men, perhaps the majority, seek wealth, but 
their conduct can hardly be called rational. A man 
can be independent without being rich, and, under all 
circumstances, independence is better than wealth. The 
doctrine of the Bible is good, which teaches that " having 
food and raiment, let us be content." That is substanti- 
ally all that we can have, and all our efforts towards ac- 
quiring what we shall not be able to use, or what we 
may never find of any real service, are so much labor 
misapplied and wasted. 

But surplus wealth is one thing, and suitable means 
provided for both our present and prospective wants is 
another. We cannot accept the doctrine which Christ 
taught, that we should take no thought of the morrow, 
relying wholly upon the help of God and his angels in 
cases of emergency. Christ, it will be remembered, laid 
down rules for a world that was expected to soon come 
to an end. Besides, Palestine, where Christ lived and 
labored, is a warmer country than ours, and much less 
labor is required there to obtain subsistence than is re- 
quired in this country. 

Under the conditions that we find in our case, pru- 
dence requires that every man should be provided 
against all ordinary contingencies. He should accumu- 
late a surplus which should be properly guarded and 
preserved to meet the wants of both himself and those 
dependent upon him ; he should be prepared for sick- 
ness, for misfortune, for old age, and even for death. 
Men who fail to make such preparation or provision 



WEALTH. 



147 



while they have health and strength do not act in a 
sensible or prudent manner. Those who depend upon 
Heaven, or upon chance, or even upon the help of their 
fellow men, are sure to find themselves either unwel- 
come guests among indifferent friends, or lodged at last 
in some state or county institution at public expense. 
People who have no means of their own must of course 
be dependent, and those who are dependent are uni- 
formly slaves. 

As to the merits and demerits of the rich, the matter 
as set forth in the New Testament is put in altogether 
too strong a light. We think it quite probable that 
some rich men may after all get to heaven, but it is 
equally probable that their chances would be improved 
if they were encumbered with less property, or had ac- 
quired it in a different manner. It is well known that 
no man gets rich through his own individual exertions. 
His accumulations come invariably from appropriating 
the labors of other men, or at least from paying for them 
inadequately. The main source of wealth is to be found 
in per cents, and profits, and these always come from the 
labors of those who work for others. Really, there 
should be no such thing known or recognized as per 
cents, and profits. Even the Bible very properly con- 
demns interest and usury. 

Rich men are by no means bad men. Measured by 
their own standard, they are usually gentlemen, and if 
they do not do better than they do, it is merely because 
their early education was defective. " All the ways of a 
man are clean in his own eyes," saith the proverb. The 
rich man means to do right. He is extremely careful 
in observing the requirements of the law ; indeed, it is 
through the help of the law that he acquires his wealth 
in the first place. 

That wealth has an elevating tendency or a healthful 
influence upon mankind, is a proposition that cannot be 



148 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



maintained. Wealth leads to luxury, and luxury cor- 
rupts the heart. Wealth means power, and power 
renders men selfish, arrogant, overbearing and frequently 
unjust. Men who possess wealth and power are 
never able to see things in a fair and true light, espe- 
cially in cases where their own personal interests are 
affected. We are willing to admit that men of wealth 
usually acquire their riches by what is called lawful 
and proper means. Their methods could not be called 
robbery, because in their case robbery has been declared 
legitimate by law. No, we would concede to the rich 
the right to all they have acquired. We would not call 
them hard names, nor seek to exterminate the class by 
the free use of dynamite or any other dangerous explo- 
sive. We would not even seek to reduce their revenues 
by ingenious and oppressive methods of taxation. We 
would do nothing of the kind. But we would proceed 
at once to close up the avenues that lead to wealth. 
We would not call upon the police or the militia to 
assist the wealthy man in robbing his neighbor, or to 
enable him to go off with his plunder after the robbery 
was committed. We would remove all the supports of 
wealth as they are now maintained by the state, and we 
would let the wealthy acquire their property, if they 
acquired it at all, by their own unaided exertions. 
When that time comes, if it ever does come, rich men 
will be either entirely unknown or an exceedingly scarce 
article. 

We would not encourage the conflict between the rich 
and the poor ; we would not encourage conflicts under 
any circumstances, between any two classes. Conflicts 
never bring remedies ; conflicts simply lead to destruc- 
tion. We must change our belief and thoughts; we 
must change our manner of doing, and especially we 
must change our laws, or dispense with them entirely, 
before we can have remedies that are permanent and 



WEALTH. 



149 



satisfactory, and finally a better condition of things. 
All we could get by exterminating a class, under present 
conditions, would be to get another class in its place just 
as bad, and perhaps worse. Such has been the history 
of the world thus far. 

That one man may be a millionaire, thousands upon 
thousands must languish in poverty and distress. That 
is an unalterable law and one that cannot be evaded. 



Take things as they go, one man is about as bad as 
any other man, but no worse. There is no great differ- 
ence between the two, or if there is, it is not for us to 
judge the case and decide just what the difference is. 
The rich think the poor are bad — but really there is no 
material difference between them. If the poor were 
rich, they would do precisely as the rich do, and if the 
rich were poor, they would do as the poor do. Human 
nature is the same the world round. Even time itself 
seems to make little or no difference in this case. The 
people who lived in Egypt in Pharaoh's time were just 
such people as live in Egypt to-day — nay, just such 
people as live in France, or Eussia, or Turkey, or even 
America to-day. The color may be different, but the 
character and impulses are substantially the same. 

The rich avail themselves of the services of the poor, 
and give in return for them just as little as possible. 
The poor would do precisely the same thing if the con- 
ditions were reversed and the opportunity were offered. 
The rich are not at all to blame for being what they are, 
or doing as they do. The laws, the customs and the 
education received have made the rich just what they 
are; if the laws, the customs and education had been 
different, the rich would by no means have been what 
they are to-day. Men are substantially what their 
fathers were, and they are what their fathers taught 



150 THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

them, to be when they were children. It is so through- 
out the whole animal creation. The young robin does 
what it sees the mother robin do, and the young cat 
does just what it sees the old cat do, and rarely anything 
beyond that. When the American colonies, after secur- 
ing their independence, decided to form a constitution 
and establish a government of their own, what kind of a 
constitution and what kind of a government did they 
have? Why, they made them both as near an exact 
copy of what they had seen and known in the mother 
country as the circumstances of the case would allow. 
So it has always been — so it always will be. Variations 
are seldom found, and those that are found are made 
hesitatingly and unwillingly. The world has always 
been conservative, and it hates a radical as it hates the 
Devil. 

No, the poor have no right to envy the rich, hate the 
rich, nor oppose the rich. Above all other men, the rich 
obey the laws. If they are wrong, it is because the laws 
are wrong. The poor have no right to rob the rich — 
robbery is never justifiable. What the rich have secured 
they have gained, as already intimated, as honorably and 
as honestly as money or property is gained by any one. 
If the rich are wrong, change the laws. When the laws 
are changed, the rich will do differently — and not till 
then. We would not take a dollar by force, or in any 
other way, from the rich man— we would not take a 
dollar from any man — but we would make different laws 
from what we have, or rather we would make none at 
all. If we had no laws, we should have neither riches 
nor rich men. Such a thing would be impossible. Take 
away the supports, the assistance, the subsidies, the priv- 
ileges, the protection that government gives to the rich, 
and we should not have a rich man in our midst. No 
man ever got rich by his own unaided exertions ; no 
man ever got rich, nor ever could get rich, by simple 



WEALTH. 



151 



manual labor. He gets his riches by crooks arid corners, 
by per cents, and profits, and finally by the assistance 
that the state constantly gives him. Take away the 
police, the militia and the support that the state gives, 
and riches would take a tumble in short order. They 
do not have rich men where they have no government, 
no laws, no police, no militia. Riches are an after- 
thought, a later development. Riches, science, law, 
government, civilization and slavery all go together. 
One is never found where the others are absent. 

No, since government, or the state, makes men rich, it 
has no right to rob them afterward. It is silly, it is un- 
just to lay the blame on the rich men. The rich are all 
right as they are — legally, constitutionally right, we 
mean. We would not disturb them ; they are entitled 
to every dollar they have, whether they gained it 
honestly or otherwise. We would not molest them in 
the slightest respect, but we would take mighty good care 
that they did not go on making money in the same way 
hereafter. 

We admit that the poor are wronged — grievously, 
outrageously wronged. But not by the rich. They 
must lay their complaints at the door of the state. It 
is the laws, the instruments through which states do 
their work and accomplish their designs, it is the laws 
that wrong and oppress the poor. But the poor might do 
better than they do, even with all the disadvantages 
under which they labor. Too many of them find it 
pleasanter to go on grumbling than to take courage 
and make an effort to overcome the obstacles that they 
find in their path. Many of them are averse to honest 
labor, and they would rather be tramps or beggars 
than to make any serious effort to rise above that condi- 
tion. Thousands are poor — we mean destitute — because 
it is impossible for them, under the circumstances, ever 
to be anything else than poor. They have been unfor- 



152 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



tunate, perhaps : they have met with, great losses or they 
have been disabled in some inexplicable or some unex- 
pected manner. That is bad enough. But there are not 
only thousands but tens of thousands for whom no such 
apology could honestly be made. They are poor be- 
cause they ought to be poor, or because they might 
reasonably expect to be poor. Some will work onlv 
part of the time, and when they do work perhaps they 
put forth their efforts to little purpose. They misjudge 
or miscalculate, or perhaps they do not judge or calcu- 
late at all. They are extravagant and improvident, or 
perhaps their wives are so. which is just as bad. They 
never save, never economize. It is pleasant weather 
with them to-day. and they imagine it will be pleasant 
weather always. They have never been seriously ill 
in their lives, and therefore it is reasonable to suppose, 
they think, they never will be ill in future. Instead 
of complaining of the rich, envying the rich, hating the 
rich, they should endeavor to learn valuable lessons from 
the course which the rich pursue. But that would re- 
quire an effort, it would imply thought and study, and 
perhaps it is hardly fair to expect that they will put them- 
selves to all that trouble. Of course it is not possible 
for all. or even half of mankind, to be rich, but nine- 
tenths might be comfortable and independent, if they 
only would — and to be independent and comfortable is 
better than being rich. We conclude with the remark 
that within certain limits, men fix their own destiny and 
determine their own career. 

VI 

Only by pride cometh contention.— Prov. 13:10. 
Among the things that God abominates are : i; A 
proud look, a lying tongue and hands that shed 
innocent blood.''' — Prov. 6:17. 
A man's pride shall bring him low. — Prov. 29:23. 



PRIDE. 



153 



Most truly said : " Only by pride cometh contention." 
If people would only banish pride, they would get along 
well enough. They certainly would be free from all 
disposition to contend or wrangle with others. Pride 
keeps us continually standing in a false light ; it leads us 
to think that we are better than we are, and usually 
better than other men. The two main sources of all 
wars are pride and greed. Pride blinds our eyes and 
leads us to imagine that we perceive things which do not 
exist. It makes things appear darker, stronger, or more 
offensive than they 'actually are. What makes it worse 
is that no man really has anything to be proud of. He 
certainly could not be justly proud of either himself or 
his achievements. He is probably not much better look- 
ing than most men, and no matter what he has done, 
others have done still greater or better things before him, 
and so will others do better things after him. And yet 
people will fight, and even kill themselves, to get some 
choice position, at the head of the table, at the right of 
the line, and in many cases where it is impossible to tell 
which is the head of the table or which is the right of 
the line. All questions regarding the location of posi- 
tions of honor are arbitrary in character. If the table is 
turned, its head becomes the foot ; if a line faces about, 
those who were at the foot are instantly transformed into 
the head. The absurdity of fighting for a mere idea, a 
shadow, a ghost, something which in fact is nothing at 
all ! Let us ]ay aside our pride and our high sense of 
honor forever. It will be so much better for ourselves 
and for everybody concerned. 

VII. 

Fear God and keep his commandments. This is 
the whole duty of man. — Eccles. 12:13. 

Who shall presume to tell us our duty? Indeed, 



151 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



what natural or rightful authority over us has any man, 
under any circumstances? The plea that our masters 
make is, that they are working for our good. But sup- 
pose we are not in want of any of their assistance, or do 
not care for their wisdom. Or suppose that we are not 
prepared for their intercession, or have no fancy for their 
methods. Must we necessarily succumb ? No, we pro- 
test against their action and repel their interference in 
our affairs. We do not care for their medicine, and, 
moreover, we decline to try their remedies. We have 
no patience with men who are perpetually doing us some 
little favor. They are quite too officious by all odds. 
Often they are hypocrites, sometimes they are knaves, 
and under all circumstances they are companions whose 
acquaintance we do not care to cultivate. We must 
look with a suspicious eye upon all those who are anx- 
ious to take us under their protection The chances are 
ten to one that they will prove to be our worst enemies 
at last. So it has turned out thousands of times, not 
only in the case of individuals, but in the case of nations. 
The only safe help that any man ever had is that which 
he gets when he helps himself. There is too much dic- 
tation in this world — there are too many people who 
are ready to tell us not only about our duty, but to tell 
us about our rights and our privileges. " This is not in 
good form," they say ; " this is out of taste, or out of 
character," they inform us. But why are not we as 
well able to judge what is right as they are — or to de- 
cide what is not in good form, or out of taste or out of 
character ? And if we are not as well equipped as they 
are, what affair is that of theirs, we would like to know ? 
So far as rights go, we have a right to do anything that 
we please, or that we are able to do. We have a perfect 
right to do wrong — that is, to do what other people call 
wrong, but what we call right. From his own stand- 
point, no man ever does wrong. 



DUTY. 



155 



No, we ourselves are the sole judge of our duty. We 
do not happen to be mortgaged or hypothecated to any 
one. We are nobody s slave. What we do, we wish to 
do, and that we are pleased to do. Should we do other- 
wise, we would not be ourselves — we would be some- 
body else. What some one commands or compels us to 
do, he does on his own account. We are really our- 
selves only when we do as we choose. Then, and then 
only, do we exhibit our true character. If we do any 
meritorious act, it must be because we wish to do it, or 
deem it advisable to do it. If some one compels us to 
be kind, what merit could we claim ? 

We must be permitted to be the sole judges of what 
is right and proper for ourselves to do ; but what others 
do, or should do — that is another matter. We do not 
assume to say what others should do in any case, be- 
cause we do not claim to be anybody's master. A man 
is arrogating to himself unwarranted privileges when he 
undertakes to say that this we ought to do. and that we 
should leave undone. Some will even go so far as to 
dictate how much we ought to pay, and when to pay and 
how. Also, how much we should drink, and what we 
should eat. The true way is to govern ourselves, and 
let others govern themselves. It will not answer for any 
set of men to put their heads together and undertake to 
lay down laws by which to govern the action of other 
people. It is done, we know, but only as many other 
things are done that are clearly unjust and oppressive. 
Bentham says : " The talisman of arrogance, indolence 
and ignorance is to be found in a single word ' ought.' " 

Till. 

And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old 
when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his 
natural force abated. — Deut. 34:7. 



156 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Moses was a well preserved man for his years. Even 
at a hundred and twenty he had no nse for spectacles, 
and as for activity, he was a match for any man of fifty 
at the present day. There is no doubt that Moses took 
good care of himself, and 1 that he avoided all practices 
and habits that tended to undermine his constitution. 
He may have taken a little wine, or possibly bitters, for 
the stomach's sake, but he never went to extremes in 
this direction as Noah is reported to have done. 

Moses lived in a natural, easy manner, and he did not 
bother himself to any great extent with other people's 
affairs. It is true he was a lawgiver, but not one of the 
ambitious, designing sort that we have at the present 
day. He had no axes of his own to grind. He usually 
had a good appetite, and generally ate what his stomach 
craved ; but when he found that he had eaten enough, 
he never was so foolish as to endeavor to distinguish 
himself by eating double the quantity. He was not over- 
nice about anything, and he had no special rule by 
which to govern his daily movements. While he was 
careful about his health, he was never squeamish. He 
was moderate and temperate in all things, and that was 
the reason why he was never known to suffer from the 
gout or indigestion. He was even-tempered, and he 
never quarreled with his family or his neighbors. 
He never had a doctor called in his life, and as to an 
apothecary shop, he never saw such an institution. He 
was not especially fond of exercise, but he never kept a 
retinue of servants to do what he could better do him- 
self. He indulged in sleep freely, and he avoided, as a 
general thing, midnight revels and banquet halls. 

There is no wonder at all that Moses lived to be a 
hundred and twenty years old ; the wonder would have 
been that he should not have lived thus long. People 
do not die because their time has come, but because of 
their feeble constitutions and the fact that they have not 



LONGEVITY. 



157 



lived properly. They die because they are worn out 
and exhausted, and because they have no vitality left 
with which to maintain their existence longer. Any- 
body will die when he reaches that point, whether his 
time has come or not. Any man can lengthen or shorten 
his days, but not every one can live to be a hundred and 
twenty years old, no matter how careful he may be, nor 
how much effort he may have put forth. There must 
be a fairly sound constitution to begin with. Disease 
may, under certain conditions, be checked or suppressed, 
but the germs will always remain. There are some 
remedies for some ailments, but as a general thing nature 
properly consulted is the best doctor that can be em- 
ployed, and certainly the cheapest. Under the most 
favorable circumstances, nature uniformly does the 
work. All the doctor does is to give nature a chance. 

It will be noticed that the age of men cannot be 
measured by years. Some old men of seventy or eighty 
are really younger than those who have seen fewer years. 
The difference arises somewhat from mode of life, and 
still more from inherited strength and capabilities. 
There is no doubt that Moses had a strong constitution 
in the first place, and his ancestors had probably not 
been enfeebled by dissolute habits and high living. It 
is true that Moses murdered an Egyptian, and did some 
other things that could hardly be commended, accord- 
ing to the present standard of morals, but mistakes and 
misdoings of that kind do not seem to have affected his 
health seriously. Moses had some weaknesses, as most 
men have at the present day, but he had many redeem- 
ing qualities to counterbalance them. He certainly was 
a great lawgiver and was quite successful in his under- 
takings. He did not exactly get into the promised land, 
it is true, but he had the pleasure of seeing where it 
was, just before he died 



158 



THE NEW DISPENSATION". 



IX. 

To what purpose is this waste f—Matt. 26.-18. 

The waste that prevails in civilized life far surpasses 
the belief of any one who has not turned his attention 
specially to the subject. It is not confined to what is 
willfully or carelessly thrown away. That is by far the 
smallest part of the loss. A large portion of this labor 
misapplied and money uselessly expended is to be found 
in fields where we would least expect it — in the perform- 
ance of work to which we have become accustomed, but 
which produces no valuable results ; and in the expendi- 
ture of money which we deem necessary and unavoid- 
able, but which in fact is neither just, nor sensible, nor 
unavoidable. All work performed, all money expended, 
should be productive of valuable results, and when we 
make efforts or expend money that is not productive, 
we are not acting in a sensible and prudent manner. Of 
course no one is to blame for this state of things — no one 
is really to blame for anything. Every man does what 
seems to him right — he does that much even when he 
does wrong. One man does what seems to another man 
wrong, because the views of the two men as to what is 
right are radically different. If all men had precisely 
the same constitution and temperament ; if they had the 
same teachers and instruction and were enjoying equal 
advantages every way, they would act precisely alike 
under the same conditions and circumstances ; and their 
views of the fitness, justness and propriety of things 
would not materially vary in any case. If our laws, 
customs and surroundings were different, we ourselves 
would also be different. 

When a savage sees a cultivated gentleman walking 
about, pacing and repacing simply for exercise, he looks 
at the proceeding with astonishment. He cannot under- 



WASTE. 



159 



stand why any one should go through such a perform- 
ance for nothing. No savage does such a foolish thing 
as to walk merely for exercise, nor does he do any work 
that produces no apparent result ; and in this respect at 
least savages are more sensible than the civilized. If a 
man feels that he needs exercise, why does he not apply 
himself to some useful work ? Why does he not saw 
wood or pick up chips ? If he can find nothing to do for 
himself, why does he not do something for some one 
else ? Why does he throw his work away ? Why does 
he waste so much time, muscle and money in play, in 
games, in vacations, when he might get just as much 
amusement out of work that is productive? If people 
worked as they should, they would need no amusements, 
no play, no exercise, no vacation or diversion. Labor 
properly measured and properly applied should itself be 
a diversion. What delight can equal that which comes 
from efforts which enable us to achieve something credi- 
table or produce something valuable? Such work 
ought to be a pleasure rather than a burden. Slaves 
who produce what they cannot enjoy, who labor when 
they would not, or who do more work than they would, 
alone have tasks. No man should be a slave at any 
time or under any circumstances. 

Then there is the waste, continued and constantly in- 
creasing waste, that comes from following fashion, from 
doing things for no other reason in the world than that 
other people have done them. Why should we not 
have some character and independence of our own? 
Why should we not be governed in all our action by 
reason and common sense ? Why should we cast aside 
clothing when half worn, or perhaps not worn at all, 
merely because the fashion of this month is not what it 
was last ? Why should we build a house three times 
as large as we need, simply because our neighbor has 
one of the same kind? Why spend so much money on 



160 



THE NEW DISPENSATION, 



ornament that has no practical value ? It should be re- 
membered that all work is beautiful that is adapted to 
the purpose for which it was intended. A plain dress 
properly made may be handsomer than one which is 
weighed down with ornament. Our craze for frills and 
furbelows in dress, for peaks, points and projections in 
architecture, and for surplus ornament and decoration 
everywhere, is a development chiefly of the last century. 
The ancients knew nothing of this shameful waste of 
labor and money. If they builded a temple, or a struc- 
ture of any kind, they did so with a purpose, and they 
kept that purpose steadily in view until the work 
was completed. There was not a column that did not 
have its place and its use. And so they did when they 
made a garment or some implement of husbandry. 
"With them there was no waste of labor and nothing 
was added simply for decoration. And so it was in the 
Middle Ages when the great cathedrals were built. 
They put on nothing for ornament in the proper sense of 
the term — that is, nothing that was meaningless, worth- 
less. These temples were great books that the people 
would gaze upon and read. • And thus it was in the 
temples of ancient Egypt. The whole surface of the 
walls, and even the surfaces of the carved figures, were 
covered with what to the uninitiated might appear to be 
mere ornament. But in fact those figures, carvings and 
engravings were so much history for the world to read. 
They had a meaning and a value. 

X. 

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind. This is the first and great command- 
ment.—Matt. 22:37. 

It is glorious to die for one's country. — Horace, 
The patriot's God is tJie state. 

10 



PATRIOTISM. 



161 



Patriotism, when properly considered and fully un- 
derstood, is a synonym of selfishness. Patriotism is 
really a most hateful and detestable apparition. Christ 
was no patriot : he never talked about such a thing as 
patriotism. He loved all men, of whatever race and 
whatever realm, and he paid no attention to geographical 
limits of any kind. He cared not even for his own 
family ; practically, beyond his childhood days, he had 
no family. He had his Father's work to do. and there 
was no time to waste on members of his family. Some 
one said to him : " Thy mother and thy brethren stand 
without desiring to speak to thee," And he answered: 
" Who is my mother, and who are my brethren ! " And 
he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples and said : 
" Behold my mother and my brethren. Whosoever 
shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the 
same is my brother, and sister and mother." He had no 
home : he knew no fatherland. There is patriotism in 
the Old Testament, but none in the New. David was a 
fighter and a patriot : but Christ was neither. 

Patriotism is founded upon a different doctrine from 
that on which the Christian religion is based. Christ 
taught us to love all men without distinction, while 
patriotism consists in loving our friends and neighbors 
and hating those who are not of our sect or country. 
Patriotism impels us to devote ourselves to the good of 
our family, our friends, our government, our God, and at 
the same time to overcome and destroy the family, 
friends, government and gods of every other people. 
Patriotism only manifests itself by advancing our in- 
terests at the expense of those whom we assume to call 
our adversaries. Again we repeat, patriotism is nothing 
but selfishness in its most hateful, hideous phase. As a 
patriot we love and praise everything that is ours, 
whether it is worthy of love and praise or not — our 
armies, our generals, our fleets, our schools, our govern- 



162 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



ment, our Bible and our God. We always praise these, 
and condemn all others. 

Patriotism can make progress only so far as it 
tramples upon the rights and interests of those who are 
not of our country, our sect or our party. If it were 
not for this patriotism that we are describing, we should 
have no armies and hence no wars. What do we have 
armies for ? To protect our rights, to advance our in- 
terests, without any regard to the rights and interests of 
other people. We have wars chiefly to promote com- 
merce, to furnish customers for our goods and goods for 
our customers. In all the history of this world, no war 
was ever undertaken except from the lowest, basest, and 
most selfish motives. Commerce — that harp of a thou- 
sand strings — how many wars has that caused ? What- 
ever promotes commerce promotes patriotism, and "what- 
ever promotes patriotism is presumed to be right. In 
fact, as between nations, right itself is only what is favor- 
able to one's own interests. 

Why do we love patriots ? Simply because they are 
ready to fight for us and die for us ; while the one who 
fights and dies for some other people or some other coun- 
try, is no patriot at all, in our eyes. The Hessians who 
came over in 1777 to aid the British in subduing the 
Americans we never called patriots, no matter how well 
they fought nor how much they bled. Gen. Fraser who 
gave up his life at the battle of Saratoga we never think 
of calling a patriot. Even the French officers who so 
generously came to assist us in 1777 we never call 
patriots, because they were not fighting for their own 
country. Gen. Arnold was a patriot so long as he 
fought on the American side, but when he went to Great 
Britain and helped the other side, he was no more a 
patriot but a traitor. It is evident that circumstances 
alter cases. Arnold was the same man, but under some- 
what different circumstances. It is not the fighting and 



PATRIOTISM. 



163 



bleeding that makes a man a patriot, but the side on 
which he decides to array himself. In the war of the 
Revolution, we dignified with the name of " Tory " all 
those conscientious people who decided to remain loyal 
to the mother country. They were good people enough 
in their way, no doubt, but they were on the wrong side 
to be patriots. They were indeed patriots — from their 
standpoint, but not from ours. 

In modern times patriotism has come to have a little 
different signification from what it had formerly. Orig- 
inally patriotism meant love of one's country, one's peo- 
ple. Now it means simply love of the state and obedi- 
ence to the constituted authorities. The most iinished, 
most accomplished patriots are to be found to-day in 
such paternal states as France and Germany. There the 
fatherland and the state mean one and the same thing, 
and when they say a man loves his fatherland, they 
mean merely that he loves the emperor and his minions. 
Patriotism implies strict passiveness and cheerful sub- 
mission at all times. It also implies slavery in its high- 
est, or rather lowest, stages of development. The sub- 
jects of the king of Dahomey who are ready to offer their 
heads or necks as a sacrifice at any time, are patriots of 
the first water. Even Turkey or Persia, or Russia, has 
nothing better to exhibit. 

In Germany and France, as well as in all countries 
where state paternalism has had a full and healthy 
growth, lessons in paternalism begin with the cradle and 
end with the grave. As one writer says : " There the 
state, with its military and bureaucratic machinery, has 
gradually absorbed all the people's energy. The individual 
man has been stunted by constant pressure from above. 
Trimmed down to a foreordained state pattern, he has 
lost all those qualities which are indispensable in self- 
governing communities. To-day hardly has the modern 
French ' citizen ' or German ' subject ' opened his eyes 



164 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



in this world before the state appears, compelling the 
parents or the witnesses of this important even to report 
it to an official. This is a selfish regulation for record- 
ing that one more has been added to the herd of future 
taxpayers and soldiers." " The life of the new citizen 
or subject does not really belong to him, but to the state, 
for by another legal statute he is taught that he should 
be ready at all times to sacrifice his life, not for his own 
interest and those of his family, but for the political am- 
bition of the government. He is told that he should die 
for his country. 1 ' Is the case materially different in 
America? Is not the same doctrine becoming daily 
more popular and more prevalent? Is not the "flag" 
the fetich before which the American people are ready 
to prostrate themselves at any moment, when either a 
convenient or an inconvenient opportunity may be of- 
fered ? 

The state is our Grod and the party boss is his prophet. 
Great is Allah, but greater yet is the party boss— pro- 
vided he belongs to our party. 

XL 

He that hateth gifts shall live. — Prov. 15:27. 
A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to 
pervert the ways of judgment. — Prov. 17:23. 
And thou shalt take no gift ; for the gift blindeth 
the wise and perverteth the words of the right- 
eous.— Ex. 23:8 

Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad and 
a gift destroy eth the heart. — Eccl. 7:7. 
Every gift in its true nature is a bribe, and there- 
fore corrupting. 

No practice is more hazardous than that of giving and 
receiving gifts. The results are rarely satisfactory. To 



GIFTS. 



165 



give a man what he earns is just, but to give him more 
than is expected, or more than was promised, is usually 
not wise. The recipient generally wonders why it was 
done, or what it means ; or perhaps he feels disappointed 
because the gift was not larger. When one begins to 
give there is ordinarily no end to the business. If you 
give to-day, you are sure to be condemned for not giving 
to-morrow ; if a little is given this time, more will be ex- 
pected, or perhaps demanded, next time. To make a 
present, if it be a real present, is to give something for 
nothing, a pure gratuity, and that is what a sensible man 
never does. In nine cases out of ten, the recipient 
wonders what could have been the motive, for sensible 
people are supposed to have a motive for everything 
they do. If a gift is made by way of compensation, 
and if a consideration of any kind enters into the case, 
it could not properly be called a gift. 

Sometimes there is something about a present that 
seems like a reflection upon the recipient in respect to 
his financial condition. As a rule we buy presents for 
people that we think are not able to buy presents for 
themselves, and for that reason we rarely give presents 
to the wealthy. Again, if we give something to rela- 
tives, it is considered that we did no more than we ought 
to have done. They generally imagine that we owed 
them that much, or more. If we give presents to em- 
ployees, they are apt to look upon them as what was 
really their due. They think that if we paid them a fair 
price for their services, we would not think of making 
them presents. Those whom we employ should be 
treated fairly and justly, and they should be well rewarded 
for their labor, but all beyond that is apt to clo more 
harm than good. 

If there are objections to making presents, as we have 
indicated, there are still greater objections to receiving 
them. No one can accept a present without feeling obli- 



166 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



gated, and it is for that reason that thoughtful people 
will not consent to accept gratuities of any kind. The 
fact is they do not wish to be obligated, and they take a 
very sensible view of the matter. As a rule, both the 
giving and accepting of gifts should be avoided as a 
practice of very doubtful propriety. It might answer in 
the case of children, and perhaps when we find ourselves 
at the mercy of the waiters at a hotel, but it is not to be 
recommended under other circumstances. Those who 
accept a present, especially if they be adults, are expected 
to give as much or more in return at the earliest con- 
venient opportunity ; and not to do so, exposes them to 
the reproach of being either penurious or ungrateful, or 
possibly both. 

Gifts, or gratuitous assistance, even to the poor, are 
rarely productive of the good that is contemplated. It 
is well known that charity, even under the most favorable 
conditions, is of doubtful utility. It is well understood 
that the more that is done for people, the less they will 
do for themselves. Few people labor, unless they feel 
obliged to labor. And if people are fed, clothed and 
housed by sympathizing friends, what inducement would 
they find to work? Really, there could be none. As a 
rule, if we help those who are absolutely helpless, we 
are doing all that could be expected. It is a well known 
fact that public charity, as practiced in this country and 
in England, is productive of many serious evils and of 
but little permanent good. 

Gratuities and benevolences have done far more harm 
than people imagine. A morbid humanity prevails 
which leads men to help those who do not need help, 
and to save those who might better perish. Some will 
say this is an inhuman doctrine. It is, indeed, a novel 
doctrine, and besides it is unpopular, but still it is wor- 
thy of attention, if not of acceptance. Who shall esti- 
mate the accumulated miseries arising from simply help- 



GIFTS. 



167 



ing a poor, crippled and deformed child to live to middle 
life, and perhaps to old age — misery to the child all 
through its unfortunate career, a source of pain and 
mortification to family and friends, and a positive detri- 
ment to the world at large? Surely, this is morbid 
sentimentality and misguided sympathy, to say the 
least. This problem must be met, and have some solu- 
tion, some day or other. 

Again, every gift is a sacrifice on the part of the giver. 
But why should we sacrifice for the benefit of another, 
except where help is actually needed ? It must be re- 
membered that when we have free schools and free 
libraries for some, the sacrifice must be made and the 
bill must be paid by others. But why must we pay 
other people's bills in any case? The doctrine upon 
which free institutions of all kinds are founded is most 
absurd and unjust, and uniformly oppressive in its 
operation. All protection consists in favoring a few at 
the expense of the many, and is therefore a wrong in- 
flicted upon those who are compelled to make the sacri- 
fice. 



In this country, as in all other countries which claim 
to be civilized, the state is the great dispenser of gifts to 
the people, or rather to a favored and fortunate portion 
of the people. One of the chief duties and leading 
privileges of the state is to confer favors and bestow 
rewards, but in doing so it is always guilty of very great 
injustice. It is not possible that favors and privileges 
should be just to all people under any circumstances. 

Every man who is favored by the state, receives his 
benefit at the expense of some one else, and so it is with 
his privileges. If some people are placed higher than 
others, there must be some who are lower than others. 
If the state grants money to individuals, it is always 
the money that comes from other individuals. The state 



168 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



has no money except that which comes from individuals. 
If privileges are granted to some, it must necessarily 
follow that they possess advantages that are not granted 
to other men, or they would not be privileges. And so 
it is when the state undertakes to compensate for any 
merit or for work of any kind. The money which is 
paid to one always comes from the pockets of other peo- 
ple. If the state grants a pension, some one must earn 
the money with which to pay the pension, and so when 
an office is bestowed, the money with which the salary 
is paid must come from some source. There are too 
many who vainly imagine that the state has the power 
of making money on its own account, in fact of creating 
or producing money in some mysterious manner. But 
no state ever had such a power. The money that the 
state handles is just such money as individuals handle — 
in truth, it is always money that has come from individ- 
uals in the first place. Money, all money, comes from 
somebody or somewhere — there is no other money. The 
state cannot add value, it cannot take away value. 
There is very little, if anything, that the state can do 
that individuals could not do as well. Indeed, the state 
never does do anything that is not actually done by 
individuals, and they are most ordinary people at that. 
The state can stamp a piece of metal and call it a coin, 
but the metal is always the product of the labor of some 
person. The stamp is only the mark that indicates the 
weight or value. Individuals do make just such money 
as the state makes; we call them counterfeiters. 

Then, what right has the state to grant money to any 
man or woman ? Properly speaking, none at all. It is 
impossible for the state to take a step without wronging 
or injuring some one. What it does for one, of course it 
does not do for others, and so there is always a differ- 
ence, a distinction, a case of favoritism, and this is what 
the state is doing throughout its whole career. 



GIFTS. 



169 



Our position will be best understood by considering 
our popular doctrine of free schools. The state takes 
the money of the public, the money that the people have 
earned and saved, and applies it in paying the yearly ex- 
penses of the public. It takes money from John and 
uses it for the benefit of James, whom John perhaps 
does not even know. It takes money from New York 
and applies it on the payment of debts that ordinarily 
should be paid by Wayne county. Where is the justice 
in this? There is no justice about the matter in any 
form or in any direction. It is robbery, spoliation, ex- 
tortion, pure and simple. It is done merely because the 
state has the power and at the same time the inclination. 
When examined in its entirety, the matter assumes even 
a worse phase than that. It is above all a fraud and a 
cheat. It is not something that, as assumed, is done, 
ordered and decided by the state or by the public as a 
whole, or for the state or the public as a whole. It is really 
the work of a small portion of the state, a certain party, 
or a certain number of individuals who pulled the wires 
and so managed the undertaking as to secure the passage 
of a free school law in the first place. After a law is 
enacted, no questions are asked, and no matter how 
wicked, how unjust, how iniquitous, or how outrageous 
the performance may be, it is held to be permissible be- 
cause it is according to law ! 

There is really no excuse, apology or argument by 
which to justify a free school law, when examined in 
reference to the simple question whether it is right or 
wrong. In the first place it is wrong to force or extort 
money from people even for a worthy object. All force 
under any conditions is tyranny, and tyranny is always 
oppressive. Every man ought to be his own judge as 
to where and for what purpose his money should be 
applied. It is generally pleaded that education — any 
education, all education — is a benefit to society, to the 



170 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



community. Bat on what grounds shall any man be 
forced to pay for what simply benefits society or, what is 
the same thing, for what benefits other people and not 
himself? Again, we repeat that no man should be 
forced to do a good act any more than a bad act. No 
man should be forced at all. Besides, in this case, it is 
well known that education as we get it in our public 
schools does not necessarily make men better. It cer- 
tainly does not lessen crime, for with all the millions 
spent yearly for free schools, crime is steadily on the in- 
crease. Education, public education, may be a good 
thing, and it may be a bad thing. That depends entirely 
upon what kind of education it is and what use is made 
of it. The mere fact that education is public and that 
the public pays for it, affords no evidence that it is some- 
thing that will save mankind or improve their condition. 

Let us see how the free schools work in practice. A 
man lives in Virginia, but he happens to own a house 
in Albany. Why should he be taxed to support the 
schools of that city ? Even suppose education to be a 
good or a desirable thing, let those who want it pay for 
it. Food and raiment are good things, even more im- 
portant things and more desirable than an ordinary edu- 
cation. Should the man from Virginia pay for the food 
and raiment of Albanians also? And if he must pay for 
education because it is a good thing, he ought not to be 
allowed to stop with Albany. It must be good also for 
Utica, for Rochester, for Buffalo, and for every city in 
the state and for every state in the Union. There would 
be no end to the tax which the gentleman from Virginia 
really ought to pay, if the claims of the free school ad- 
vocates are well founded. The mere fact of his having 
a house in Albany does not create the obligation to pay 
other people's debts. It merely enables the authorities 
in that cit}^ to enforce the pretended obligation. If the 
Virginian had no house in Albany the obligation would 



GIFTS. 



171 



be just as great, but he could not be reached and the 
right (or the wrong rather) could not be enforced. A 
man ought to be kind, humane, just, virtuous, but no 
one thinks of enforcing this obligation. Moreover, no 
one thinks of limiting this obligation to any one city or 
state, or of claiming that this obligation depends in the 
slightest degree upon a man's having or not having 
property, or having it in this place and not in that. A 
man ought to be kind, humane, just and virtuous at all 
times and in all places, without any reference to property 
or residence — but the obligation to pay another man's 
school bills is another matter entirely. 

The only shadow of a claim by which to justify taking 
the money from one man by force to pay for the ex- 
penses of another man with whom he has no relations of 
any kind, would be the inability of the latter to pay his 
own debts. But it is well known that in practice under 
the free school law men are constantly being compelled 
to contribute towards paying the bills of other men who 
are abundantly able to pay their own debts. A man 
who has a dozen children may send them all to the free 
school and have them educated in the higher as well as 
the lower branches without paying one cent. Such men 
are found in every community. They may have $50,- 
000 or $100,000, but having their funds invested in 
stocks, or bonds or mortgages, or concealed in some place 
where the assessor cannot discover them, they are not tax- 
payers and so they do not contribute one dollar for public 
purposes. They are simply parasites, and there are plenty 
of them to be found in all towns, especially the larger 
ones. They come and settle down for the sole purpose 
of getting the benefit of free schools, free churches, free 
libraries, free institutions generally, and yet they are 
called upon to pay nothing. This is an abominable 
doctrine, a monstrous injustice, and it ought to be stopped. 
People without being forced by law would be glad to 



172 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



contribute towards paying the school bills of families 
that are without means. This was done before free 
schools were known, done cheerfully and done univer- 
sally. 

When will people begin to see that there is such a 
thing as right and justice in this world, and that it is 
just as wrong to oppress a man who has means as one 
who has nothing? When will they begin to see that 
votes have nothing to do with justice, and that whole- 
some and just laws are the only ones that people are 
under any obligations to observe? 



It is stated by Hallam that among the Greeks and 
Eomans there were no charitable institutions for the 
public — no asylums, or hospitals, and no provisions for 
the poor in any way. There was among those people, 
and among the ancients generally, very little of what we 
at the present day understand by the terms sjmipathy 
and humanity. The spirit of alms-giving as it has de- 
veloped among us during the later centuries is peculiar to 
the Christian and Mahometan religions. 

There is a motive for every rule and every law which 
is found to prevail among men, and there is no doubt a 
motive for the rule or law in regard to charity as it is 
recognized in civilized lands at the present day. The 
originators of this law Avere unquestionably honest in 
their purpose, but there is no doubt that, in practice, 
the necessity of giving and sacrificing is urged upon the 
faithful, by the church and state, with anything but dis- 
interested motives. Gifts are demanded in the name of 
the Lord, but what proportion of all that is contributed 
ever reaches the Supreme Being, is a very grave ques- 
tion that has never yet been settled. The sacrifices that 
we are called upon to make are precisely similar in 
character and results to the sacrifices made in such poly- 



GIFTS. 



173 



theistic countries as Egypt and ancient Greece. Nomi- 
nally they were always offerings made to the gods, but we 
know very well that these gods never existed, and so it 
is certain that these offerings never reached their sup- 
posed destination. It is a matter of history that after 
the sacrifices were finished, the priests came around, 
gathered up the fragments and appropriated the pro- 
ceeds. That is the way the priests made a living. And 
how would the priests maintain their existence to-day, if 
it were not for tithes and offerings ? 

We are continually asked, nay, ordered, to give to a 
(rod whose existence even is in question, and whom 
according to the Bible " no man hath seen at any time " 
— to a God who, as we are absolutely certain, never 
ordered any sacrifices or gifts, and who could not derive 
any benefit from them in any way. Why should people 
give? Certainly not to please God, for such a heavenly 
being could have no concern about such trivial matters. 
We are asked to give to the poor and needy, as if this 
were to be indirectly a favor to God. But this is a 
queer position to assume. If God really wanted the 
poor helped, he is abundantly able to render them all 
the assistance they need, without the co-operation of 
feeble men. No, it is not to help God, or to help the 
needy, that we must give to the poor. We must do it 
because it is our duty, and because giving alms is one of 
the ways by which we can save our own souls. It will 
be noticed that our selfishness is appealed to every time. 
Every gift we make and every sacrifice we offer is purely 
a bribe with which we hope to induce the Deity to grant 
some great favor to ourselves. The practices and the 
theory are precisely the same among those who are 
known as idolaters. Every time we give a dime, we ex- 
pect a dollar or more in return. There are no disin- 
terested gifts — people who do things without motives are 
simpletons. 



174 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



In the Middle Ages such sacrifices were carried to the 
most ridiculous extremes. Let us quote what Mosheim 
says in his church history, speaking of religion in those 
centuries : " All acknowledged the efficacy of the Sa- 
viour's merits, and yet all, one way or another, labored 
in effect to diminish the persuasion of this efficacy in 
the minds of men, by teaching that Christians might 
appease an offended deity by voluntary acts of mortifica- 
tion, or by gifts and oblations lavished upon the church, 
and by exhorting such as were desirous of salvation to 
place their confidence in the works and merits of the 
saints. Were we to enlarge upon all the absurdities and 
superstitions which were invented to flatter the passions 
of the misguided multitude, and to increase, at the ex- 
pense of reason and Christianity, the opulence and 
authority of a licentious clergy, such an immense quan- 
tity of odious materials would swell this work to an 
enormous size. The piety in vogue during this and 
some succeeding ages consisted in building and em- 
bellishing churches and chapels, in endowing monasteries, 
erecting basilics, hunting after the relics of saints and 
martyrs, and treating them with an excessive and absurd 
veneration, in procuring the intercession of the saints by 
rich oblations or superstitious rites, in worshiping im- 
ages, in pilgrimages to those places which were esteemed 
holy, and such like absurd and extravagant practices 
and institutions." 

It is true the practice has improved considerably of 
late, but is not the principle of our worship even now 
substantially the same as it was in the Middle Ages? 
What does our worship consist in but giving and sacri- 
ficing, with the hopes of getting the clergy to intercede 
for us and thus, with the help of God, of finally securing 
salvation ? 

But can we feel confident of securing redemption, or 
salvation, in any such way as we have been considering? 



GIFTS. 



175 



If we have been guilty of a transgression, can we suc- 
ceed in bribing the court and thus escape the penalty 
incurred? It is often tried, we know, but the attempt is 
rarely successful. The author is free to say he does not 
believe in the doctrine — he does not believe in its prac- 
ticability for one moment. Nature at least cannot be 
bribed by gifts and sacrifices in any such way. If a 
man sins, he must pay the penalty — or, what is the same 
thing, take the consequences. There can be no question 
about the truth in this case, and we do not believe that 
further discussion in this direction would be found 
profitable. The Bible tells about grace and pardon, but 
nothing can be found to correspond to these things in 
nature. 

It might not be amiss to notice here what apt scholars 
may be found among those whose privilege it is to man- 
age affairs of state. These people seem to have profited 
greatly from observing the success which the church 
meets with in its operations, and from pursuing a similar 
line of policy. The church, it is well known, subsists 
and even thrives upon gifts and sacrifices made by the 
faithful ; and the state has been apt and shrewd enough 
to follow in the steps of its predecessor. The state de- 
pends solely upon its revenues, and these revenues, as 
everybody knows, come from the people — at least from 
some people. The state itself never earns or produces a 
dollar ; in that respect it resembles the church greatly. 
The people contribute to the expenses of the state, but 
the payment is uniformly forced, not voluntary. The 
case is the same in the church. In the church a man 
pays to escape damnation, or at least excommunication; 
in the state he pays simply to escape further trouble and 
expense. The difference in the two cases is slight ; both 
in the church and in the state, men pay, not because 
they will, but because they must. It is so to a large 
extent with gifts of all kinds. A man who gives, not 



176 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



hoping to receive anything in return, must be akin to a 
fool. Really, is there ever any virtue or merit in giving 
under any circumstances ? 

We have seen why the church advocates and encour- 
ages charity. The state does the same thing for the 
same reason. If the state did not have so many favorites 
that want places and employment, we certainly would 
not see so many state charitable institutions scattered 
over the land. There is a reason for all things, and there 
certainly is a reason for the abnormal development of 
" charity " institutions among us during the last ten or 
twenty years. 

XII. 

Better it is that thou shouldest not vow than that 
thou shouldest vow and not pay. — Eccl. 5:5. 
A man void of understanding striketh hands and 
becometh surety in the presence of his friend.— 
Prov. 17:18. 

The best course for all to pursue is to make no vows 
and no promises of any kind, and to enter into no con- 
tracts. A man who makes no vows has no engagements 
to meet and none that may cause him distress or annoy- 
ance at some future time. A promise made to be ful- 
filled at some time hereafter is sure in the end to prove a 
troublesome obligation. Why should a man bind him- 
self to perform some service to-morrow ? How does he 
know what the circumstances of his case may be to- 
morrow ? He may possibly be dead, or he may be dis- 
abled by disease or accident. Or at least he may change 
his mind, and the facts connected with the case may take 
on an entirely different aspect. Promises that we have 
made, but that we do not wish to carry out, or that it is 
not in our power to fulfill, are the cause of a large share 
of our sorrows and of the regrets of life. " Sufficient unto 

11 



I 



CONTRACTS. 



177 



the day is the evil thereof." It is time enough for us to 
decide what we shall do when the morrow comes. A 
man who binds himself with promises and contracts 
makes a veritable slave of himself and, as a general 
thing, he does so quite unnecessarily. No man can con- 
sider himself a free man so long as he is bound by any 
covenant or contract. 

Above all things men should make no contracts or 
promises to do certain things at a certain time in the 
future. If they buy goods, let them buy what they 
have the money to pay for, or let them dispense with 
them entirely, at least for the time being. No man 
should mortgage himself to anybody, at any time, in any 
manner, for any purpose — and every promise to pay 
money or to perform service is in the fullest sense a 
mortgage upon the person. No man could do a more 
foolish or more dangerous thing than this. A prudent 
or sensible person never binds himself in any such 
manner. The best way is to make no vows, or at least 
to pay as you go. People who pay ready cash are not- 
troubled either with book keeping or misunderstandings. 
They have no notes to meet, and no unsettled accounts 
to disturb their rest. 

By incurring debts men make slaves of themselves. 
A man who makes a promise binding himself to one or 
more men should not complain if he finally lands in 
prison, as such men often do. It is a curious fact that the 
state should in all cases side with the creditor against 
the debtor. The state hates debtors, and in old Eoman 
times it always treated them as the worst of criminals. 
It is not a great while ago that a man could be impris- 
oned for debts in this and every other civilized country, 
as he still may be under certain conditions. The state 
has always upheld slavery, and as long as slavery con- 
tinued to be one of its institutions, it uniformly petted 
and protected slaveholders. If the slave ran away and 

\ 



178 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



tried to gain his liberty, the state called on the police 
and the militia to catch the fugitive and send him back 
to his master. That is one of the leading offices of a 
state, and that is the way it protects people, especially 
those who are weak and unfortunate. Indeed, it must 
be remembered that slavery, true slavery, is the corner 
stone of every state ; without masters and without slaves 
there could be no state. At least there never has been 
any state without slaves and masters. 

XIII. 

Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him. — 
Jer. 22:10. 

Why should we pity ? Pity of itself has no efficacy 
or value, and it affords no relief in any instance. We 
can, and we do aid people whom we do not pity. There 
are other humane motives. besides pity. We aid people 
because we have a desire to aid them ; we realize that 
we might need assistance ourselves in a similar emer- 
gency. 

What we should do, or what we should strive to do, 
is to prevent, as far as possible, all occasions for pity. 
Indeed, how does any one come to deserve commisera- 
tion ? Or to go farther, how should any one come to 
consider himself particularly unfortunate ? Really, why 
should any one mourn or murmur at his lot in life ? 
The thorough-going business man does not repine at his 
losses ; he counts losses as part of the undertaking, and 
he takes them as a matter of course. He balances his 
losses against his gains and is satisfied if he finds the 
gains in excess. So it should be when we come to 
consider other misfortunes in life. We should not be 
troubled over these things, because we know they are 
part of our inheritance. We know there are no gains in 
this world without corresponding losses to accompany 



PITY. 



179 



or follow them. What we cannot prevent by ordinary 
care and forethought, we should not repine over. The 
pleasures and adversities of life are common to all man- 
kind, and our sole effort should be to escape as many of 
the latter as possible. We know we cannot prevent 
them entirely. Even when death approaches, why 
should we complain or why should we worry in the 
least? Why should we even be concerned about it? 
Death has always been approaching us— it is approach- 
ing us at this moment. What earthly reason could there 
be for pitying a man because he dies ? He knew he was 
born simply to die, as all men are born to die. Why 
should he mourn, or why should we mourn, because, for 
some wise purpose, or through some agency that could 
not be controlled, he is removed a few days or a few 
years earlier than he might have been otherwise ? 

Why should we pity those who have lost friends ? 
Our pity can do no good. Their loss came in the ordi- 
nary course of things, and could not have been prevented. 
The loss of friends must be, like any other loss, some- 
thing to be expected at any time. Again, it will be 
observed that we are not concerned about the afflictions 
of strangers, but only about the afflictions of our 
friends. It will be noticed that there is a bit of 
selfishness about all our pity. We pity only when the 
misfortunes come near home. 

Why should we pity people who have lost their 
property ? All men have losses ; the wealthiest men 
often have the heaviest losses. Losses in business, like 
death, are certain to come at some time. Losses are 
either inevitable, or they are the results of vice or mis- 
management, and in either case those who suffer can 
have no claim upon our pity. If a man builds a house 
of combustible material, he need not be surprised if it 
burns down ; if he builds his house near a powder maga- 
zine, he need not wonder if it is eventually blown up 



180 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



and destroyed. And so if a young man goes to war, 
we need not be surprised to learn that he has been either 
killed or wounded, or that he has died in the service 
from disease. Why should we mourn? If a man 
crosses the path of a trolley car and meets with death in 
that way, again why should we mourn ? There is noth- 
ing strange or unaccountable about death in such an 
event. It is simply inevitable that those who are thus 
run over should be killed, or at least badly injured. 

Our heart may lead us to pity and to mourn, but our 
head, our cool judgment and sound sense, is against all 
sorrow and all pity. We may be concerned about the 
fate of the world around us, and still experience no feel- 
ings of sorrow. Man in the natural or savage state has 
but little pity, and as to sympathy, such a feeling can 
hardly be said to exist in his case. 

Where no punishment intervenes, there need be no 
thought of pity. God, in the Old Testament, pitied and 
relented only because he punished. Had he been al- 
ways kind and just, why should he have pitied, why 
should he have relented ? Evils are as necessary and as 
natural as blessings, and so it is with sorrows and enjoy- 
ments. 

No one does us more harm or causes us more pain than 
the surgeon who amputates a limb, or who cuts deeply 
into our vitals. But do we for that reason regard him 
as an evil-doer, or do we condemn him for what he 
does ? No, we regard him as our greatest benefactor. 
It is clear if we come to reflect, that we must arrive at 
new views of evil and suffering. With an improved 
philosophy — a better one than that under which we have 
been and are living — we shall find that our sorrows will 
be greatly lessened and our joys will be multiplied in a 
corresponding degree. 



SURETY. 



181 



XIY. 

He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for 
it—Prov. 11:15. 

Better advice than that implied in the above sentence 
was never given. No man should bind himself for an- 
other ; no man should bind himself at all, but to volun- 
tarily enter into bondage for another, is worst of all. 
There is no sense in it, and in a large majority of cases 
the venture proves to be unfortunate or unsatisfactory. 
People have trouble enough with their own affairs with- 
out burdening themselves with the troubles of others. 
The motive that induces the step is to retain friends, but 
the result too often is that friends are lost by the ven- 
ture. How many men have ruined their prospects in 
life and have left their families destitute simply by hav- 
ing become surety for another ! No true friend would 
ask for such a favor, and a wise man would never grant 
it. If a man chooses to give to a friend, let him do so. 
It is true that every giving usually affords poor returns, 
but it is far better to do that than to trust one's self 
entirely to the management, or mismanagement, of others. 
We are not able to see how a single argument could be 
advanced in favor of taking upon our own shoulders the 
burdens that should be borne by other people. 

XV. 

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. — 
Prov. 12:10. 

People do not make their own opinions ; they do not 
even make their own religion. We believe what we are 
led to believe, forced to believe. We do not believe this 
year what we believed last, and the reason is that we 



182 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



have grown older and have seen more and heard more. 
This fact is strongly illustrated by the difference in the 
sentiments of people to-day in regard to the lower ani- 
mals compared with what the sentiment was on this 
point only a few years ago. It has not been long since 
there was very little compassion for this portion of crea- 
tion, because it was taken for granted that animals had 
no feeling, and therefore they could not suffer as people 
suffer. Now as we come to observe and reflect, we can 
readily see that the lower animals feel and suffer pre- 
cisely as we do, and in many cases they feel more 
acutely. Their affection in some instances surpasses 
that of man, and their sensibilities are quite as refined. 

There is much, very much, to be done for the lower 
animals. Our obligations are not limited by any means 
to the human race — we owe much, very much, to the 
creatures below us. No one has the slightest conception 
of what is possible to be done in the way of developing 
the mental and moral capabilities of the lower animals. 
We presume it is still generally believed that they have 
no soul, and besides, while they have instinct, that they 
do not reason ! But we must declare that those who 
come to such a conclusion must be destitute of reason 
themselves, or they are not acquainted with the motives 
and movements of animals. Who is there having a pet 
dog, or a pet bird, or a pet of any kind that does not 
know, without any proof, that animals reason ? 

We argue for a large measure of kindness and con- 
sideration for the lower animals, as people affect to call 
them. We ought to do more than has ever yet been 
done in the way of training them. If we should give 
the dog one half the time and attention while young that 
we give to the child, we would soon find ourselves 
amazed at the extent of his intellectual capabilities. 
Everybody knows that the dog understands brief com- 
mands and suggestions just as well as a person does. 



TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. 



183 



He has learned that much without any teaching, but 
with more effort and time he would learn more compli- 
cated orders. 

"Thou shalt not kill any living creature." This is 
Buddhist law all over the East. Our own Bible says ex- 
pressly and unconditionally: "Thou shalt not kill." 
This law does not say you may kill, if you feel like do- 
ing so ; nor does it say you may kill animals, and not 
men. It merely says, without any reservation or condi- 
tions : " Thou shalt not kill." 

Men dislike to be called animals, and yet that is simply 
and practically what they are. It is perhaps true that 
every animal is not a man, as every animal is not a bear 
or a buffalo, but it is a fact that every man is an animal ; 
he has every characteristic that other animals have, and 
not one characteristic more. There is a difference be- 
tween men and animals, it is true ; so there is a differ- 
ence between men and men, or between men at one 
stage of existence and men at another stage. But differ- 
ence in form and appearance, or in externals of any kind, 
is never considered a radical difference. 

It would seem that man's conceit as manifested in his 
fancied superiority over the rest of the animal creation, 
comes largely, if not wholly, from what is taught in our 
Bible. The Bible teaches the supremacy of man, not 
over animals only, but over the whole creation. Man 
seeks to subdue and subjugate every living creature, and 
even the members of his own race, if they do not 
happen to belong to his family or live in his country. 
According to our Scriptures, the sun, moon and stars 
were made solely for the service of man. Did not 
Joshua command the sun to stand still ? " And the sun 
stood still, and the moon stayed until the people had 
avenged themselves upon their enemies. And there was 
no day like that, before it or after it." Eeally, it is to be 
hoped not, for it was one of the worst days of which his- 



184 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



tory gives us any account. Among other deeds done by 
Joshua on that day, was the taking of the five kings 
from the cave where he had kept them confined and 
letting the people stamp upon their necks till their rage 
was satisfied. After that, "Joshua smote them and 
slew them and hanged them on five trees." He left 
them there till sundown, just for the pleasure of seeing 
them suspended in that exposed position. This same 
Joshua was one of God's favorites, and the successor of 
Moses. This is one of the many lessons that the Bible 
•contains. 

The Jews did not have much concern about the lower 
animals except so far as they could be compelled to 
render valuable service. But other eastern nations, and 
particularly the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Hindoos and 
the Persians, were all especially fond of animals, and 
they refused to kill them even when they were noxious 
or dangerous. The Bible doctrine is embodied in these 
words from Genesis: "Let man have dominion over 
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 
the cattle and over all the earth." That is quite com- 
prehensive, and it comes pretty near completing the 
inventory. 

As to animal food, it is a mistaken idea that it is in 
any sense indispensable for man. Savages may need it, 
but civilized men need it only to a limited extent, if at 
all. When men did not cultivate the earth, they needed 
animal food, simply because there was little other food 
at command, but more and more has that state of things 
ceased to exist, and instead of men hunting their food, 
they now manufacture or produce it. In the East where 
but little animal food is consumed, among the peasantry 
there being none at all, they have some of the strongest 
and healthiest men in the world. This is especially true 
of the Turks, the Arabs and the Egyptians. 

It must be noticed that savages in their fondness for 



TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. 



185 



flesh are not confined to animals. In their earlier stages 
they prize the flesh of human beings above that of any 
other creature. Hence if we eschew human flesh and 
content ourselves with pig, goose and such things, per- 
haps we deserve more or less credit for being somewhat 
in advance of the early savages who were cannibals. 
But it may be that eventually we may go a little farther 
and dispense with the eating of flesh entirely. There are 
many objections to eating flesh to any extent at this 
stage of civilization, and one of them is the danger of 
contracting diseases that might otherwise be avoided. 
In the course of a year meat-eaters must necessarily con- 
sume a considerable quantity of flesh taken from the 
carcasses of animals more or less diseased. 

There is a tendency in this country towards kinder 
treatment of animals which it is gratifying to note. 
They all have as much right to live as we have. All 
animals have an abundance of noble and interesting 
traits. When their hunger is satisfied they are uni- 
formly kind and harmless. All animals agree among 
each other better than do the members of the human 
race. Family ties among them are remarkably strong, 
and the parents will risk their lives at any time to save 
their offspring. As before intimated, they are suscep- 
tible of unlimited development in intelligence ; and even 
in certain simple arts they are capable of great advance- 
ment, if they only have, as children have, persistent and 
judicious instruction. ~No one to-day has the slightest 
conception of the capabilities of the lower animals under 
skillful training and treatment. 

In Ecclesiastes 3:18, 21, it will be noticed that the 
true relations of men and beasts are fully and correctly 
understood: "I said in mine heart concerning the estate 
of the sons of men, that Grod might manifest them, and 
that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth 



186 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



beasts ; even one thing befalleth them : as the one 
dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they have all one breath ; 
so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast : for 
all is vanity. All go nnto one place ; all are of the dust, 
and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of 
man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that 
goeth downward to the earth ? " In these few lines will 
be found the whole truth in regard to the question as to 
what place the lower animals are entitled to hold in our 
estimation. 

XVI. 

Marriage is honorable in all. — Heb. 13:4. 
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself. — Deut. 
17:17. 

But whoso committeth adultery with a woman 

lacketh understanding. — Prov. 6:32. 

Her house is the way to hell, going down to the 

chambers of death. — Prov. 7:27. 

Fools die for want of wisdom —Prov. 10:21. 

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. — 

Prov.— 1:10. 

Her feet go down to death ; her steps take hold on 

hell. Remove thy way from her, and come not 

nigh the door of her house. — Prov 5:5. 8. 

Now she is without, now in the streets, and lieth 

in wait at every comer. — Prov. 7:12. 

Many strong men have been slain by her — Prov. 

7:26. 

For the land is full of adulterers. — Jer. 23:10. 
So ought men to love their wives as their own 
bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. — 
Ephes.— 5:28. 

Before we can judge fairly and intelligently on the 
marriage question, or indeed upon any question, we must 
divest ourselves of our previous religious notions, as well 
as of our long settled prejudices and convictions on the 



MARRIAGE. 



187 



subject which is under consideration. Indeed, 1 no man 
can be called a capable or reliable judge, either for him- 
self or any one else, if his mind is preoccupied before 
the evidence is taken. But this is uniformly so, in this 
and other Christian countries, whenever the marriage 
question is brought up for consideration. On the sub- 
ject of marriage, as on the subject of religion, we assume 
as a matter of course that all who think differently from 
ourselves must necessarily be wrong. It is commonly 
assumed, in this and most European countries, that it is 
wicked, shameful, monstrous, for a man to have more 
than one wife, and we affect to believe that nobody 
thinks of accepting polygamy, unless it be those who are 
properly called heathens, or people with low and vitiated 
tastes ; and yet the facts of history are all the other way. 
Monogamy is characteristically a Christian rule, but even 
with Christians it has not been a universal rule. The 
Old Testament certainly sustains or tolerates polygamy, 
and Christ himself does not condemn it. In fact, he does 
not seem to have attached any great importance to mar- 
riage under any considerations. He himself remained 
single, though he by no means avoided the society of 
women, either of high or low rank. It is well known 
that both Luther and Melanchthon approved of a man's 
having more than one wife, if he could afford it and felt 
so inclined. In the earlier, as in the later, centuries 
Christians condemned polygamy, but not because the 
Bible forbade the maintenance of such an institution. 
Monogamy is something that comes rather from Creek 
philosophy than the Bible. Many of the early Chris- 
tians, it must be remembered, condemned marriage of 
all kinds. They were opposed to all intercourse. It is 
known that St. Paul decidedly preferred the unmarried 
state. There is better authority for celibacy in the 
Bible than there is for monogamy, and hence it is that 
celibacy was specially ordained for the Catholic clergy 



188 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



and was adopted by Christians who were not priests. 
Yet concubinage is an institution that was just as firmly 
established, and as a custom was just as extensively 
followed, in the early centuries as at present. Female 
slaves are uniformly concubines. 

We merely state a fact of which history informs us, 
that the New Testament as a whole bears strongly, in its 
tendencies, against both woman and marriage. During 
the first three or four centuries, when Christianity was 
in its primitive and purest state, woman held a very low 
rank. She was neglected, and generally despised. The 
teachings of St. Paul, which comprise the most important 
part of the Bible, are decidedly opposed to woman. 
She was excluded from taking part in any of the func- 
tions of the church. Woman could bear sorrow and 
feel pity ; she could even wash the feet of Jesus, but 
she had no duties higher than that. 

The more closely and carefully this matter is ex- 
amined, the more clearly it will be perceived that monog- 
amy is only one of several marriage systems. In most 
Christian countries at present, it is the custom to have 
but one wife, but at the same time "it is allowable for a 
man, with only a small degree of secrecy, to have as 
many concubines as his tastes may dictate or his means 
may justify. It will be remembered that in all the 
Asiatic countries polygamy prevails, and always has pre- 
vailed, under various conditions ; and if we should un- 
dertake to compare numbers on this subject, we would 
find perhaps that the polygamists outnumber the monog- 
amists ten to one. The polygamists in numbers are 
certainly very greatly in excess. 

Monogamy prevailed in Greece and Rome, and the 
leading temple, the Parthenon, was devoted to a virgin. 
In both Greece and Rome no one could officiate as a 
priest, with propriety, unless he or she was strictly and 
literally chaste. The vestal virgins were supposed to 



MARRIAGE. 



189 



have great power and prescience because of their purity. 
So, we are impressed with the fact that monogamy is a 
Eoman or Pagan, rather than a Christian institution. 

As is well known, when we speak of chastity, it is the 
chastity of woman, rather than of man, that is contem- 
plated. In all countries, a large amount of liberty is ac- 
corded to the man, and he may go and do as he pleases. 
But over the woman the strictest watch is maintained, 
and the slightest irregularity or indiscretion on her part 
is sure to bring down upon her the promptest and severest 
condemnation. This clearly arises from the fact that the 
married woman is looked upon everywhere as property. 
She has been and is still purely and simply a slave. 
Naturally enough men watch over what they consider 
their property with great jealousy. Courtesans, being 
the property of nobody, or rather the property of every- 
body, have more liberties accorded to them than wives 
have. And it will be noticed that as woman comes to~ 
rise gradually higher and higher, she gains more freedom 
and insists upon doing more and more as she pleases. 
When she comes to stand upon the same plane with 
man, she will surely demand equal rights with him, and 
the chastity of the two will be measured by something 
like a common standard. 

But when it is conceded that polygamy, or polyandry, 
is as legitimate and proper as monogamy, all has been 
said that can be said in favor of these systems. In a 
country like ours particularly, there is nothing desirable 
or commendable in a man's having two wives, or a wife 
and a mistress ; or in a wife's having two husbands, or a 
husband and a paramour. The only true family is that 
which is reared under the monogamic system, and such a 
group is the most beautiful picture that nature presents. 

However, under the monogamic, or any other system, 
no two people should be compelled to live together, or 
to keep up the appearance of living together, simply be- 



190 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



cause they happen to have gone through the ceremony 
of a marriage. Marriage is the last thing in the world 
with which the church or state should ever meddle. 
Above all other things, such a union is a private matter 
in which outsiders can have no rights and should have 
no concern. There should be no marriage for conven- 
ience, nor for sexual reasons ; nor should there be divorces 
founded upon similar motives. The young should be 
taught that marriage is a serious matter, a step not to be 
taken without a great deal of reflexion and hesitation. 
But it two people make a mistake, as they often will in 
a world that has so many silly and dishonest people as 
ours has, no law should compel them to live together 
a day longer than is found to be mutually agreeable. 
But if a man chooses to discard the wife he has 
chosen, he should always make suitable provision 
for both her and her children. In fact such matters 
should be settled or agreed upon before marriage, and it 
should never be assumed that they will always live to- 
gether. Again, if marriages can be annulled at the will 
or request of the parties, with a little help from the 
court, why should they not be allowed to make the 
contract in the first place, without the assistance or inter- 
ference of the state ? We need hardly add that before 
the marriage occurs the future, with all its possibilities, 
should be fully considered, and the prospect ahead in 
every direction should be duly regarded. If such were 
the case, we should have fewer sickly children and 
fewer people for the town to support, than we have as 
the result of ill-starred matches. 

At this late day women, whether married or unmarried, 
should be treated as the equals of men in every respect. 
They should be permitted to retain their names in case 
of marriage, and they should not be deprived of their 
inalienable right to a fair share of the property. If 
wives were more independent, they would receive better 



MARRIAGE. 



191 



treatment than they do from their husbands. When we 
get down to a common sense basis, and to sound busi- 
ness principles, in this matter of marriage, we shall not 
hear of so many scandals as we do now. Ordinarily a 
woman is as good as any man, but no better. 

Under the early Anglo Saxon laws, marriage was a sale 
by the father to the groom. The latter paid so much, 
and the woman was his property. The effect of the 
ceremony was simply to transfer the woman into the 
power of the husband. Among many people love does 
not enter into the question in a case of marriage. In 
many instances espousals are made for children not over 
seven years old, and there certainly can be no real love 
under such an arrangement. It often happens that the 
couple have never seen each other till the day of the • 
ceremony. The arrangements are not made by the 
parties to the marriage contract, but by the parents and 
friends. As Lubbock well remarks : " The origin of 
marriage is independent of all social and sacred con- 
siderations ; it has nothing to do with natural affection 
and consent, and it is to be symbolized not by any 
demonstration of warm affection on one side and tender 
devotion on the other, but by brutal violence and un- 
willing submission." ' This is undoubtedly the true mean- 
ing of marriage as originally instituted. A man married 
a woman simply because he wanted a slave. 

The love and gallantry that prevails between the two 
sexes in this country is quite exceptional. There is 
much less gallantry in Europe than in America. Men 
are not as tenderly devoted to the weaker sex there as 
they are here. Woman is looked upon more in the 
light of a servant in Europe, especially in Germany. In 
most countries, it is her duty to obey and not her privi- 
lege to command. Among uncultivated people love, as 
we conceive it, is a sentiment that is quite unknown. 

Among all Christian nations, marriage has been made 



192 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



a religious institution. In the Catholic church, it is one 
of the sacraments, and hence it is that people have come 
to believe that marriage is really a divine affair, that 
matches are made in heaven, and that God cares for 
married people as he does not care for those who are 
single. But this is pure assumption. The fact is that 
marriage is an every-day matter, and the marriage con- 
tract is, like other contracts, an arrangement made on 
business principles, for purely business reasons. 

People have come to have such absurd notions con- 
cerning marriage and the relations of the two sexes, and 
they have carried their ecstasy in the matter so far, that 
they are not capable of reasoning upon the subject in a 
fair and sensible manner. They have come to regard 
the person of a woman, especially of a handsome woman, 
as something sacred. According to their extravagant 
conceptions, she is an angel. But it is a fact, neverthe- 
less, that she is a creature like other creatures, and she 
is made of ordinary clay like the plainest and commonest 
of our number. 

Men seem to imagine that some of our impulses are 
unnatural and are things to be ashamed of. But there 
is really no reason to be ashamed of anything that na- 
ture has unquestionably instituted or ordered. Men, 
for some strange reason, are ashamed of a great many 
things for which they cannot be properly either con- 
demned or despised. The most natural and most nec- 
essary things in the world are those that we affect to 
hold in the greatest abhorrence. To respond to the 
most ordinary calls of nature a man must, to keep up 
with the fashions and whims of the day, go and hide 
himself from his fellow creatures. There are some 
savages that have similar ideas about eating, and if some 
one happened to see them eat, it would be a great calam- 
ity for them. We have also absurd notions about sur- 
plus wind ; and in Europe, if a man should treat his 

12 



MARRIAGE. 



193 



nose after the American fashion, he would be laughed 
at. To the people there, it is a shocking habit. They 
prefer the handkerchief, but using that, a man may 
make as loud a report as he chooses, even at the dinner 
table. These things are mentioned only to show that 
while our whims take one direction those of other peo- 
ple take another. It might be added that all over the 
East people are far more sensible on such matters of 
modesty than people are in both Europe and America. 

To return to the subject of chastity, a married woman 
is chaste if she confines her attention to one man, but 
not so with the unmarried woman. She would be un- 
chaste with even the slightest indiscretion under any cir- 
cumstances. But can the marriage ceremony, even with 
the sanction of the church, make that right in one case 
which was clearly wrong in another case? If indul- 
gence is wrong, if it is a sinful act, it would seem that 
no amount of ceremony could make it otherwise. That 
is what the early Christians believed, and hence they 
abstained entirely. They did not think that the mar- 
riage ceremony helped the matter at all. So far as the 
question of right or wrong is concerned, it must be ad- 
mitted that society may establish its own rules and say 
what it will and what it will not allow, but its decisions 
ought to be based on reason and justice. 

Our horror for a wife with two husbands, or a hus- 
band with two wives, is clearly based on superstition. 
Most certainly we have no right to consider such alli- 
ances a crime. We may object to them, we may decline 
to associate with those who follow such practices, but 
we have no right to persecute them or injure them. 
We have no more right to compel others to square them- 
selves with our ideas on this question of the sexes, than 
we have on questions of politics or religion. We may 
have our opinion, but let others have theirs, even if 
their opinions differ from ours. Clearly enough polyg- 



194 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



amy is not for the best interests of society, bnt it must 
be conceded that even polygamy would be preferable to 
the prevailing practice of concubinage and prostitution. 
The crime, according to our ideas, consists not in cohabit- 
ing with two or more wives, or two or more husbands, 
but in disobeying the law. We as law makers are de- 
termined to have our way. A man may have a dozen 
wives all at the same time, if he goes through the cere- 
mony of a divorce for all of them except one. Or if he 
marries in different states and resorts to a little sharp 
practice, he may have two or more wives at once with- 
out taking the trouble to get a divorce, and without in- 
curring any risk of being punished for his conduct. 
Society is not able to see anything wrong in this, simply 
because there is no violation of law. 

Here let us quote what is said by Feurbach : " The 
Christian does not candidly confess his sensuality ; he 
denies nature before his faith and his faith before nature ; 
that is, he publicly disavows what he privately does. 
Oh, how much better, truer, purer-hearted in this respect 
were the heathens who made no secret of their sensuality 
(to them it was no crime, no sin, no cause for shame) 
than the Christians who while gratifying the flesh at the 
same time deny that they gratify it. To this day the 
Christians adhere, theoretically, to their heavenly origin 
and destination. To this day out of supranaturaiistic 
affection they deny their sex and turn away with mock 
modesty from every sensuous picture, every naked 
statue, as if they were angels. To this day they repress 
even by legal force every openhearted, ingenuous 
self-confession, even of the most uncorrupt sensuality, 
only stimulating by this public prohibition the secret 
enjoyment of sensuality." 

There is one form of sensuality that is quite permis- 
sible, even in this very sensitive age of ours, and that is 
kissing and embracing, and yet it would seem that if 



MAEKIAGE. 



195 



there should be shame for anything, it should be for 
kissing in public. It is to be abhorred as an offence 
against both decency and good morals. But evidently it 
is wholly as people look at such matters. It is right, if 
people think it is right — otherwise not. 

Finally, why is there so much lying and attempted 
deception in connexion with marriage as it is presented 
to the public ? Why do people persist in doing what 
they affect to be ashamed of? It is a sort of pious 
fraud, a living lie — and yet even children and fools are 
not deceived in this matter. How silly and ridiculous 
is the treatment of this subject when properly con- 
sidered ! Why not be honest at all times, and in treat- 
ing of matrimony as well as other subjects ? The author 
has spoken plainly, though guardedly, in deference to 
public sentiment, because it was his duty to speak 
honestly, if he spoke at all. But he begs to have it dis- 
tinctly understood that he has no fondness for such 
topics. He is aware of the fact that, in his effort to 
seem modest, like the rest of mankind, he has some- 
times spoken so obscurely as to risk being misunderstood. 
However, he hopes it will be found the only case of 
doubt or obscurity in the book. 

A few words might be added on the subject of our 
abhorrence of nudity. We can behold nude animals, 
and even nude pictures and nude statues, without horror 
or anguish, but to behold a nude man, or a nude woman — 
that would be shocking in the extreme ! The Greeks 
and Komans of the remote past had different ideas on 
this subject. To see naked men, especially at the games, 
was a common thing, and all over the East to-day peo- 
ple's ideas of nudity differ greatly from ours. In some 
cases they are particular to have the faces of their 
women covered, but that is merely to prevent them from 
making new acquaintances and going astray. If a 
person should see bare limbs, arms, or even the bust, 



196 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



it would not be considered a matter of much moment. 
So, even among ourselves, our ideas on this question do 
not harmonize. Bathers, male and female, are permitted 
to exhibit a large portion of their naked persons ; so 
bicycle riders are very scantily clad, when out on exhibi- 
tion, and in marry of our shows nakedness is a leading 
attraction. The star performer is apt to have the shortest 
skirt. 

But common sense would seem to dictate that if peo- 
ple are willing to show their faces brazenly to the world, 
they ought not to be particularly ashamed of the rest of 
the person. On this whole subject of nakedness, in this 
country, there seems to be a great deal of nonsense. 

XVII. 

It is as natural to die as to live; death is never a 
calamity to the dead, and it is often a relief. There is 
really no reason why men should dread death. It is 
merely a sleep from which there is no waking ; if it is 
an end of enjoyment, it is also an end of suffering and 
sorrow. In this case, as in all other cases, the gains and 
the losses are nearly equal. We appear in this world 
and have a career to run, but whether it happens to be 
long or short, is to us a matter of no serious moment. 
The achievements of those even who live longest are 
hardly worth recording. At best life is uniformly dis- 
appointing, either because our aspirations are too high, or 
success has proved to be impossible. 

Our religion, and especially the Christian religion, 
gives us too exalted an opinion of ourselves, and when 
we come to die, we imagine that the world has met with 
some serious misfortune. But really the greatest and 
best of men will hardly be missed after they are gone- 
there are so many who remain and who are ready to 
take their places. If a pebble were dropped into the 



DEATH. 



197 



ocean, a slight depression would be made, but only for 
an instant. The opening closes immediately ; small 
concentric circles are formed, and these go on spreading 
and enlarging, no doubt to eternity. But to the human 
eye they disappear in a very little time. Such is the 
effect upon the world when a man dies, even though he 
may have been the greatest of men. His place is soon 
taken and he is speedily forgotten. 

It is not a sad thing to die — it may even be a pleas- 
ure to escape the troubles and trials, the pangs and 
sorrows of life, but it is sad indeed to think that after all 
we have done, or have endeavored to do, we shall be 
forgotten so soon, even by those who seemed to prize us 
highest while living. But such is fate. Some of those 
who belong to our immediate family and who have been 
our daily companions for long years, may miss us for a 
time ; yet in most cases, few tears will be shed by them. 
But the world, the world in which perhaps we held an 
important place, will not stop even to draw a sigh. 
People have so much work of their own to be done, and 
work that must be done, that they cannot find time to 
heave sighs over the memory of even the dead. Our 
grave will be covered with weeds, and after a few years 
many will find trouble even to recall our name ; some 
will perhaps forget and enquire whether we are dead or 
not ! There is no worship of ancestors in this country, 
no time to worship anything, even Grod himself. This 
phase of death is sad, unutterably sad. It would seem 
that we might be worthy of a better fate, but whether 
we are or not, we are certain not to have it at last. 
What should we expect, when even the graves of presi- 
dents and kings remain unmarked and unknown to-day ? 

Let these reflexions teach us to live while we live, 
and leave posterity to take care of itself. Let us do to- 
day what we feel inclined to do, and reserve no work for 
the future which we may never see. As long as we are 



198 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



able and active, we may count for something in the 
world, and we may be favored with a little of its atten- 
tion, but when we become permanently disabled, we 
might as well breathe our last, for all the good we may 
do for ourselves or the race. If we have any work that 
we are anxious to accomplish, it should be done while 
we are young and active, or at least before we are past 
middle life. Many great things are accomplished by 
men after they are past fifty or sixty, but these cases are 
exceptional. The majority of men never live to be 
sixty, and when they do, they are liable to become help- 
less from disease at any time. In a country that drives 
as fast as ours does, a man is apt to be practically aged 
at fifty or sixty years. But this need not be so nec- 
essarily. If men lived as they should and did as they 
should, the chances would be largely in their favor that 
they would be practically young men at seventy-five. 

Our religion, perhaps all religion, seems to have for 
its object to give mankind a horror of death. While 
death is in fact merely a passing away, we have been led 
by our teachings to believe that it is an event of much 
greater importance than it really is. People have been 
hearing so much about the future world, and their no- 
tions of it are so vague and indefinite, that they do not 
know what might happen when they arrive on the other 
shore. Perhaps they have not behaved in this world as 
well as they might, and they feel quite uncertain as to 
what punishment is awaiting them. That is one ad- 
vantage that people have who do not believe in con- 
scious immortality. They are never troubled in the 
slightest degree about the world to come, or about what 
may happen after they are dead. They do not know 
what happened to them before they were born, and they 
will probably never know what may happen to them 
after death. It is true, they may find themselves disap- 
pointed in their calculations at last, but as they cannot 



DEATH. 



199 



help themselves, thej see no need of worrying about 
such uncertain matters as these. For the sensible, level- 
headed man, the apprehension of death never occasions a 
painful thought. Spinoza says : " The reasoning man 
thinks of nothing less than he does of death ; and his 
wisdom is not in meditating on death, but upon life." 

Fear of death is an inexcusable weakness, and yet it 
is very common. But why should men fear death? It 
is certain to come, and it is the fate at last of all man- 
kind. We might with some propriety worry over some- 
thing that might be avoided, but death is absolutely cer- 
tain to come under any and all conditions, and no 
amount of worry will do the slightest good. Some men 
are afraid to think of death or to talk on the subject, 
but this is very irrational indeed. We should often 
think of death and always be prepared for it, no matter 
when the day or hour comes. Death, as a rule, is not 
necessarily painful. In cases of death from age, the 
patient simply passes away, and where death comes after 
long sickness, it is a positive relief from pain and suffer- 
ing. A thousand times in the course of a long life men 
suffer far more pain than they do when they come to die. 

We should endeavor to get advanced ideas of death. 
We are so often reminded of the event that we should 
cease to look upon it as something strange or dreadful. 
The fact should not be overlooked that we are dying 
every day ; every hour brings us a little nearer to the 
grave ; drawing the last breath is only one stage of the 
process. We have always been dying, and even drawing 
the last breath is not the final step that leads to death. 
If your house is in order and your work is done, what 
difference does it make when the summons comes ? 

XVIII. 

The Fates do not permit— the Fates stand in the way. 

That was the doctrine among the old Greeks and Eo- 
mans, and indeed among all who believed that divine 



"200 



THE ISTETV DISPENSATION. 



beings controlled and directed the affairs of men. If a 
thing was difficult or was found to be impossible, it was 
believed that the Fates intervened and prevented the ac- 
complishing of what had been desired or undertaken. 
The ancients believed in fate and destiny, as all people 
should who believe in Providence or a Supreme Being. 
If there is a being who controls in one case, he un- 
doubtedly controls in all cases. It is true that among 
-ourselves, people generally believe that (rod intervenes 
only in rare or exceptional cases, when he is. appealed to 
or when some special interposition is deemed necessary ; 
but that is only because we have practically ceased to 
believe in a God, in a being who rules this world and 
-directs the affairs of men. 

The question of destiny, of fate, is identical with the 
■question of a Supreme Being, a Ruler, Providence. So 
far as one exists the other exists, and no farther. A 
destiny that shapes our ends is simply Providence. 
When we come to the question of destiny, we find that 
we come to the question of the existence of a God, which 
appears in a new form ; and the answer to the question 
in both cases depends upon the point from which we 
view the matter. In one sense there is a God, and in an- 
other sense, looking from another standpoint, there is no 
God. no Providence, no Supreme Ruler. So it is with 
the question of fate or destiny. 

It is fated that we shall die, but not necessarily to- 
day, to-morrow, or any other day ; and as we do not 
know the day or even the year, it is the same for us as 
if there were no destiny connected with our life and 
avocation. Indeed, we know that, in practice, it depends 
very much upon ourselves whether we die to-day or 
defer the matter for months, or even years. It is for us 
to go on in all cases as if there were no destiny, and we 
must use our best judgment, put forward our best efforts, 
and then await results. With the knowledge that we 



DESTINY. 



201 



have and with the powers that are given us, that is the 
best any one can do. 

The rule that holds in the case of death holds in all 
other cases in practical life. It is known that we shall 
have storms and occasionally railroad and steamboat 
accidents — but not for any certain day or year, or for 
any particular locality. Indeed, we often pass along for 
an indefinite period without any of these accidents. So 
then, viewed from the standpoint of practical life, why 
shall we say that any of these things are fated ? Ac- 
cording to our present conceptions, all events are the 
results of causes, and if the causes do not operate, there 
can be no results. But to say things are fated, is to say 
that they come without causes, simply as a matter of 
will or of design on the part of some higher being. 

No, we must take life as we find it and as we inter- 
pret it. There may be a God, there may be destiny, but 
for all ordinary purposes, with the little knowledge and 
prescience that we have, we find no use for either. It 
is pleasant indeed to think of a God who will care for us, 
but as a matter of fact no such being ever puts in an 
appearance. It is absolutely certain that if we depended 
upon the help of a Supreme Being, we should find our- 
selves in trouble in short order. No amount of 
prayer, sacrifice or devotion will aid us in the least. 
What is wanted is work, and if we will not work we 
certainly must starve, either with or without God's help 
— unless we have a handsome bank account in some re- 
liable institution, and that happens to but few. So it 
is with destiny. There may be such a thing, but we 
know nothing about it — we are not even certain there is 
such a thing. We know very well that it will not 
answer to rely upon fate, and so it is the part of a 
prudent man to pay no attention to the influence of any 
such agency at any time. We may or may not go 
over the dam ; that depends not so much upon fate as 



202 



THE NEW DISPENSATION". 



upon what efforts we put forth and whether they are 
or are not properly directed. We must not only paddle 
our own canoe, but see that it is kept pointed in the right 
direction. No, it is not fate that tells in our case — it is 
well directed effort continually maintained that does the 
business. 

We come back in the end to the point at which we 
started in the beginning of this work. Life with us is an 
individual matter requiring persistent and well directed 
effort. Nothing else will answer the purpose so far as 
we are concerned. More and more do we see that we 
must depend upon ourselves and that it is never safe to 
rely upon the help of any other being either of a high or 
low order. Individual effort alone triumphs, and those 
who suppose they are to be carried through this world 
in a sedan chair will find at last that they have made a 
sad mistake in their calculations. 

Let us cease to talk about things necessary in this life. 
Let us get the idea out of our heads forever. There is 
nothing really necessary or unavoidable ; or at least there 
are ten thousand things that are supposed to be necessary 
that are not necessary at all. Some people think it 
necessary for them to be poor, to be miserable, to be un- 
happy, and even to be rascals, but such a case of neces- 
sity rarely if ever occurs. Certain it is, their own doings 
or misdoings have much to do with the condition in 
which they find themselves. Questions of necessity are 
settled solely by the judgment of men, and what some 
men think necessary others find to be quite the contrary. 
Some people think it is necessary to be indolent, but it 
is only because they love to be indolent. No wonder 
at all that necessity is finally ascertained to be a very 
uncertain and undefinable influence. 



EEVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



Now that this work is nearing completion and the 
author has said substantially all that he cares to say on 
these subjects, he has deemed it not amiss to devote a few 
pages to a review of the matters discussed, together with 
some further remarks in conclusion. It will be noticed 
that this work is peculiar in many respects, and one of 
the noticeable features is the plain and simple language 
in which the thoughts are presented. There are no pre- 
tensions to greatness on the part of the author ; if there 
is any greatness connected with the work, and it would 
seem there is, it lies wholly in the subjects of which the 
book treats. The author has made no attempt to place 
himself on exhibition or to pose in any way before the 
public. His sole aim has been to arouse an interest 
among the people in a subject of the greatest importance 
to them, but one which up to this time they have treated 
with surprising apathy and neglect. He has sought 
to impress and convince the reader, and if that result 
were accomplished, he would feel that his task was 
completed and his mission ended. He has never pre- 
tended that he possessed any knowledge on this subject 
not accessible to all his readers, or that he had any ad- 
vantage over them in any way, except so far as he had 
given the subject more attention than they, and had 
profited to a greater extent from the light thrown upon 
the subject by the discussions of other writers. He lays 



204 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



no claim to any gift in this connexion save that of 
ordinary common sense or human reason ; he does not 
doubt for a moment that his readers are as well endowed 
in this respect as himself, and that they would reach 
conclusions similar to those he has reached, if they would 
only consent to make use of the instrumentalities which 
nature has placed freelv at their command. As he re- 
marked in the earlier pages of the work, he does not pre- 
tend to have proved anything. He only presents his 
views, his opinions, his arguments, and then asks the 
reader how these impress him. Are the positions taken 
unsafe or untenable: can the arguments be refuted: has 
anything been stated that is untrue ? There may be in- 
accuracies, as there are in all books, but it is doubted if 
there is a serious misstatement in the whole work. At 
least the author has aimed to be extremely fair and care- 
ful in all the assertions he has made. Of course many 
things have been stated generally that are not univer- 
sally or uniformly true. There are exceptions to all 
rules, and all statements need some qualifications. How- 
ever, the author trusts he has stated nothing that is 
calculated to mislead the reader in a single instance. 
What he wants to know, and what he has spent a life- 
time in endeavoring to ascertain, is the truth. Is it too 
much to hope that his readers have the same great ob- 
ject in view? 



The reader who has perused these pages has noticed, 
without doubt, that the first and fundamental question, 
in the opinion of the author, is that which involves a 
belief in the Deity. Everything hinges upon that one 
question. If we believe there is a Grod whom we must 
love and trust, and whom of course we must continually 
worship, then certain results- must follow and a certain 
course of life is implied. If, on the other hand, it is im- 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



205 



possible for us to discover the Deity ; if there is not a 
single thing, so far as we can now ascertain, that he has 
ever done for us, or that he is doing now ; if, as seems to 
be a fact which we must take for granted, worshiping 
God can be of no service to any mortal in this life, then 
we must change our tactics, accept a new belief and 
pursue an entirely new course of action. Now which 
horn of the dilemma shall we take? Perhaps neither 
is quite comfortable or quite satisfactory. But really, at 
this late day, with all the improvements and all the light 
we have, is there any hope, or comfort, or consolation, 
in believing in a Deity whose very existence is problem- 
atical ? Do we believe in a God ? If so, why do we 
believe in him ? Perhaps we do so as a matter of faith, 
perhaps from force of habit — but it can hardly be from 
force of reason. 

Shall we go on worshiping God, as people who are 
wise or otherwise have been doing for centuries after 
centuries ? What good does worship do, what good has 
it ever done ? Let us not mind what other people de- 
clare or imagine in connexion with this subject, but let 
us dwell upon what we ourselves know ; for what other 
people know or do not know, is a matter to us of no 
moment whatever. Do we know of a single instance 
where anything has been gained, where any petition has 
been answered, or even noticed, by any Supreme Being ? 
The author does not know of a single case of the kind, 
and he doubts greatly if any of his readers have any ad- 
vantage over him in this respect. Then, why should we 
go on believing, or pretending to believe, in God, con- 
tinuing to worship and adore him, or imagining that we 
do? Why should we sacrifice to God? Why should 
we give him the slightest portion of our time and atten- 
tion ? Thousands upon thousands of men, and women 
too, get along without paying the slightest regard to 
God, or to any other heavenly being, and yet, we are 



206 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



compelled to confess, they move along about as well as 
the rest of mankind. 

It is true we have not demonstrated that there is no 
God — such an undertaking is quite impossible, we must 
concede. But the affirmative have the floor, and it is for 
them to prove that there is a God, and that is something 
that has been many times attempted, but never to our 
knowledge accomplished. Certain it is if it ever were 
proven, it does not remain so, and there is more question 
about the matter now than there ever was before. 
The condition of the world at the present time in con- 
nexion with the question of God's existence is by no 
means anomalous. The Romans after a time ceased to 
believe in their gods, and the Greeks had a similar ex- 
perience, and yet both people managed to survive. If 
we look over the different peoples of the world to-day, 
we shall find that it is not the nations, like the Turks 
and Russians, which believe in God most implicitly that 
are the happiest or that meet with the greatest success in 
life. 

It is evident that with the disappearance or suppres- 
sion of the Deity the whole religious structure falls — and 
great must be the fall thereof. Of course when it once 
comes to be understood and conceded that there is no 
God for mankind, a very important revolution will have 
begun. Necessarily a great many good people would 
be thrown out of business for want of employment. 
People who have been accustomed to build churches and 
other similar structures would have to turn their efforts 
in some other direction. Even the clergy would see the 
necessity of engaging in some other business. But they 
need not feel alarmed. The change we are contemplat- 
ing will not occur in some years, and before that happens 
the author, and a great many other people, will no doubt 
be among the missing. Revolutions are slow in develop- 
ment and the movements by which their existence is 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



207 



manifested are sometimes quite imperceptible. Some 
people, no doubt, will believe in God as long as they 
live, from force of habit, or from some other cause ; and 
after they are gone, other people will succeed them who 
will also believe in God, mainly because their ancestors 
did the same thing. But the number of the faithful is 
certain to diminish with each succeeding year. 

The Bible will also fall into disuse, or will be valued 
chiefly as an interesting specimen of oriental literature. 
If there is no God there can be no word of God, a re- 
sult which some people seem to have anticipated a long 
time ago. The Devil, too, owes his existence to God, 
and with the disappearance of the Deity, he must also 
retire from practice. Indeed, the belief in his existence 
has been declining for quite a long time already. The 
whole heavenly host must be considered as non-existent 
beings ; and even such localities as heaven and hell must 
be treated as mere myths or products of the imagination. 

People are very generally possessed of the curious 
notion that Christianity makes men good, and that they 
would not be good without Christianity. If such is the 
effect of Christianity, it ought to make all men good, 
especially all who profess religion. But does it have 
any such effect ? What is meant by the term good ? 
Was Calvin good, when he had Servetus burned at the 
stake ? Were the Catholic Christians good when thev 
destroyed, and sought to annihilate, the Huguenots ? 
Were the Christian Inquisitors good when they tortured 
and murdered thousands of their fellow men because of 
their religious opinions ? Was Cotton Mather good when 
he prosecuted the witches ? 

How is it possible to prove that Christianity has the 
power or the tendency to make men good ? It cannot 
be done. There are good Christians and bad Christians, 
as there are good men and bad men everywhere. A 
great many Christians, real Christians, have committed 



208 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



crimes, and some have gone to prison. We might turn 
our attention to Bible characters, to David and Solomon, 
for example, who were favorites of God. David was 
very pious indeed, a sincere believer in the Lord, and 
so was Solomon. But were they good men, according 
to the notions that prevail at the present day ? Would 
we set up either of these gentlemen as models for the 
young to copy after ? There was Joshua ; he also was 
pious and a great favorite of the Lord. But was he 
good? There was Mahomet, who belongs in another 
category. Was he good? He was certainly pious, as 
pious as a man could possibly be, but he did not happen 
to have piety enough to make him good according to our 
notions. 

No, those who have examined the question carefully 
and dispassionately, do not pretend that it is the office of 
religion, of any religion, to make men good. It is very 
well known that a man may be very devout and still have 
loose morals. Perhaps his views of morals and ours do 
not exactly agree. It is conceded that piety does not 
imply morality ; for many ages piety and morality had 
no affinity, no connexion whatever. For an indefinite 
period people believed they might do many bad things 
and still remain Christians. Many believe so even to- 
day. They believe that anything is right that tends to 
advance the cause of religion, even when they know that 
their conduct is wrong. 

If we wish for indubitable evidence of the effect of 
religion upon the belief and conduct of a people, we 
have only to refer to the history of the Middle Ages. 
No people ever believed in Grod, his angels, saints and 
the Devil, so earnestly and so devotedly as the more 
enlightened portions of Europe did from the fifth to the 
fifteenth centuries. And what was the character and 
conduct of those people during those ages? If we con- 
sult any history of civilization, or any church history 

13 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



209 



covering that period, we shall certainly obtain all the 
light on this question that we desire. We are told that 
perjury never before existed to such an extent and never 
was so wicked and heartless in character as during the 
Dark Ages. There was probably never before so much 
done for God, and so little done for the comfort, safety 
and true salvation of man, as during this intensely religi- 
ous period which we are now considering. 

A few paragraphs taken from Mosheim's church his- 
tory will serve to give a fair idea of the people and their 
practices during those ages : 

" The true genuine religion of Jesus, if we except a 
few of its doctrines contained in the Creed, was utterly 
unknown in this ( the eighth ) century, not only to the 
multitude in general, but also to the doctors of the first, 
rank and eminence in the church, and the consequences- 
of this corrupt ignorance were fatal to the interests of 
virtue. All orders of men, regardless of the obligations- 
of morality, of the duties of the gospel, and of the cul- 
ture and improvement of their minds, rushed headlong 
with a perfect security into all sorts of wickedness, from 
the delusive hopes that by the intercession and prayers 
of the saints, and the credit of the priests at the throne 
of God, they would easily obtain the remission of their 
enormities and render the Deity propitious. This dismal 
account of the religion and morals of the eighth century 
is confirmed by the unanimous testimony of all the his- 
torians who have written concerning that period." 

The same writer, speaking of the eleventh century, 
says: "It is not necessary to draw at full length the 
hideous portrait of the religion of this age. It may 
easily be imagined that its features were full of de- 
formity, when we consider that its guardians were 
equally destitute of knowledge and virtue and that the 
heads and rulers of the Christian church, instead of ex- 
hibiting models of piety, held forth in their conduct 



210 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



scandalous examples of the most flagitious crimes. The 
people were sunk in the grossest superstition, and em- 
ployed all their zeal in the worship of images and relics, 
and in the performance of a trifling round of ceremonies, 
which were imposed upon them by the tyranny of a 
despotic priesthood." The leading vice was concubin- 
age, and the prevailing crime robbery. 

People may say, and doubtless will say, what does all 
this prove? It proves, if there be any such thing as 
evidence and proof, a great deal. It is true we are 
speaking of ages long since past. But the people of 
those days were precisely such people as we are at the 
present time ; indeed, they were our ancestors. They 
believed in the same God and read and revered the same 
Bible that we do. In fact, in point of time, they were 
much nearer to Christ than we are, and their faith and 
creed was far nearer to the true doctrine as taught in the 
Bible than is our faith and creed to-day. Compared 
with the earnest and devoted Christians of the Middle 
Ages, we are all dissenters, all heretics and infidels. 
There is not one true believer among us. We are 
better, far better men than they were in the Dark Ages, 
not because we have more religion than they had, but 
because we have less, immeasurably less, than they had. 
We simply profess religion, that is all. We do not 
really believe in it, certainly not as it is taught in the 
Old and New Testaments. It is folly, nay, it is not 
honest, to pretend otherwise. 

Buckle says with truth : " How idle it is to ascribe 
civilization to the creed, and how worse than foolish are 
the attempts of government to protect a religion which, 
if suited to the people, will need no protection, and if 
unsuited to them, will work no good." 

The change we are contemplating is certainly radical, 
and yet its effect upon practical life is hardly so serious 
as might be expected. The truth is, people have never 



I 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION". 211 

really believed in either God or his Bible. If they had 
so believed, they would have led different lives. The 
main difference now arises from the fact that people at 
present begin to realize that they do not believe in God, 
while originally they vainly imagined that they were 
actually possessors of genuine piety. 

No, it must be evident on reflexion that the world 
could dispense with both God and the Bible and never 
miss them. A portion of our people have for a long- 
time done without them. Why could not the remainder 
be equally successful? Does any one pretend that fear 
of God has any perceptible effect upon the character and 
conduct of mankind? Is the Bible regarded as any- 
thing more than a curious book ? Is there a man living 
that claims to follow the rules, laws and ordinances laid 
down in either the Old or the New Testament ? 

It is a serious mistake, at this late day, to suppose for 
one moment that we need a God and a book of revela- 
tion to guide and govern this world. If we relied ex- 
clusively upon such agencies as these, the race would 
become extinct in a short time. 



It seems to be a fact pretty well established that we can 
dispense with the assistance and direction of a Supreme 
Being, but can we dispense with the controlling, protect- 
ing power of the state? It is true we have had govern- 
ment ever since civilization began, but that fact alone 
affords no proof that government is indispensable. Hu- 
man slavery in its most objectionable forms, and even 
piracy and cannibalism, have prevailed over vast sec- 
tions of the earth for long periods of time, but no one 
pretends, for that reason alone, that such crimes are 
necessary or unavoidable. Paganism lasted for many 
hundreds of years, in certain countries, but it was at last 
succeeded by forms and observances that were of an 
entirely different character. 



212 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



The right of men to govern other men, the right of 
one man to give rules and conditions to another man and 
thus to make a slave of him, cannot, as we have seen, 
be maintained for one moment. Not one word can be 
said in defence of such a claim. We have govern- 
ment not because there is a pretence that it is rio-ht 
but because people have allowed themselves to be de- 
luded with the idea that government is necessarj^. Thev 
had come to feel so feeble and so helpless that they 
actually imagined that they needed somebody wiser and 
abler than themselves to take them in charge and bolster 
them up. For a long time they depended upon God, 
but now that he has been found wanting, they naturally 
turn to the state for assistance. 

It must be remembered that government does not 
originate in any formal agreement existing between two 
parties. It is more or less of an accident ; it comes bv 
slow degrees, by force of circumstances and is to a 
large extent a matter of growth or development. It is 
true there is much design on the part of those who seek 
to rule, but many things happen that are quite beyond 
any man's control. So far as human agency avails, 
government is the result of encroachments and usurpa- 
tions extending through a long series of years. As we 
have shown in the earlier pages of this work, the main 
cause of men's losing their rights and becoming the sub- 
jects of others who are neither wiser nor better than them- 
selves, lies in their own indolence and apathy. If peo- 
ple would all do their own work and refuse to do the 
work of any one else, they never would become slaves. 
But in the beginning men contracted the habit of em- 
ploying agents and delegating their powers to others 
who were authorized to do what they ought to 
have done themselves. All our law-makers and police- 
men are mere delegates of ours, and we are just begin- 
ning to see what a dangerous experiment it is to place 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



213 



ourselves, under any circumstances, in the hands of 
other men. The fact that these men are our servants, 
our representatives, does not help the case in the slightest 
degree. It is found that even our servants and repre- 
sentatives finally become our masters, and so far from 
carrying out our wishes, they usually do as they please. 

Government, as we have seen, appeared originally in 
the family, and finally it extended to the priests, it being 
assumed that they represented God, the father of us all. 
So long as the authority was confined to the family, no 
serious harm resulted, because there was a community 
of interests between the several members ; but when the 
priests came to govern, they soon drifted into the habit 
of looking after their own individual interests to the ex- 
clusion of those of the people. From priests who served 
as the defenders and masters of men to those who were 
not priests, the transition was easy and natural. Religion 
was the platform on which our governors reared their 
structure in the first place ; but, as we see in architect- 
ure, after the building is completed and the platform 
has served its purpose, it is speedily taken down and 
cast aside as worthless. So it has been with the Deity. 
But what have we now ? What is government ? A 
castle in the air, with absolutely no foundation to stand 
on. Strange and anomalous condition of things ! How 
long can such a structure endure? Not for any great 
length of time, most assuredly. 

Can we dispense with government? And why not? 
Would it not be better for mankind if government were 
dispensed with ? This question is identical with the one 
whether it is not better for us to do our own work at all 
times rather than to employ help. The author thinks it 
is by far the better way to do our own work, and he 
believes there can be no mistake about the matter. We 
cannot employ others to attend to our business without 
encountering great risks. We cannot even employ 



214 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



slaves without placing ourselves largely in their hands. 
It is true they labor for us ; but we also labor for them* 
Even slaves must live, and besides, they need constant 
care and attention. But that is not all. They are often 
treacherous and they frequently deceive us. If we had 
a Grod to guide and govern us, the case would be differ- 
ent, but there is no (rod — or at least we can discover no 
Grod. Government in all its ramifications is exclusively 
a god's business, but among men there is no god, either 
of the large or the small kind. Every governor, every 
man who sets himself up as our master or protector, is a 
usurper and impostor, and he should be treated accordingly. 
If we once get this fact firmly settled in our minds as 
we should, we shall dispose of our governors and govern- 
ment in short order. 

No one pretends that governors do their work well, 
or do it better than any ordinary man in his right mind 
could do the same work. No one pretends that govern- 
ment saves labor. It adds to labor. No one pretends 
that government is cheap. It is just the reverse — it is 
the most expensive and wasteful contrivance known to 
man. Then why do we not dispense with our governors 
and take hold of the wheel ourselves ? It is impossible 
to say why not ; we really do not know why not — ex- 
cept that we are more or less indolent and are abnormally 
timid. We have been slaves so long that we have 
finally come to the conclusion that we are fit for nothing 
but a condition of slavery, as really is the case with 
a great many people at the present day. What is 
needed is a certain lapse of time and such an education 
as will enable us to appreciate the actual condition of 
affairs. 

Men may. especially in their youth, need some guid- 
ance and some instruction, but they never need masters. 
Under no circumstances do they need the elaborate and 
expensive machinery of government. The affairs of any 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



215 



ordinary community are very simple indeed, and they do 
not require a man of great genius to conduct them 
properly. It is simply a matter of common business. 
Force should never be applied in any case— it should 
not be even thought of or mentioned. In every or- 
ganized community there no doubt may be occasion for 
some one to attend to business that concerns the whole 
body, but this is solely a matter of ordinary affairs, and 
not a question of government. It is becoming more and 
more evident that masters in society are not needed 
under any circumstances. Not long since it was be- 
lieved that the employer must be a master, that the 
teacher must be a master, that the father must be a 
master, the husband a master, and a very harsh and 
cruel master at that, but these ideas are becoming more 
and more obsolete. Society cannot be controlled by 
force ; or rather it can be led or directed much easier by 
milder means. 

Do we need punishments? Do we need the rack and 
torture ? Do we need prisons and jails and workhouses 
and asylums ? Do we need armies and the police ? Do 
we need sheriffs and jailors ? Do we need courts and 
judges whose privilege it is, if not their duty, to send 
people to the gallows or the madhouse ? Do we need 
any one of these agents ? No, we need none of them. 
They are a part of the machinery of government, in fact 
they are the government itself. They came with govern- 
ment — let them go with government. Let the Bastile 
fall, and with it let the Hall of Justice fall. Justice ! 
Justice ! — most frightful, most hideous of all those im- 
aginary forms which men are accustomed to worship ! 
What awful crimes are committed daily, nay hourly, in 
thy name ! 

Why so much machinery, why so many laws ? They 
are not for the people, but for party favorites. They are 
mere instrumentalities through which the spoils may be 



216 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



secured and appropriated. Originally in this country, 
.and not longer than fifty years ago, we had but few laws 
and but few officers to execute them. Even those em- 
ployed by the government were poorly paid, and scarcely 
any man thought then of living at the expense of the 
people. The case is different now. Then everybody 
worked, but now as few work as possible. Now we 
have paternalism with a thousand laws, where we had 
only a few before. Having raised a false alarm over the 
necessity of protection, government now takes charge of 
everybody and of everything. A considerable portion 
of our people look to the state for employment and sup- 
port. They are not exactly paupers, but simply pension- 
ers upon the bounty of the public. These are the 
parasites and drones of civilization. The labor that 
"they perform is limited, but their compensation for the 
little they accomplish is certainly liberal enough. Their 
places are those of honor and trust. We have what is 
•called a governing class quite distinct and above all 
other classes. They usually wear uniforms, or perhaps 
badges only, to prevent them from being confounded 
-with common people, whom, as we must confess, they 
very much resemble. It is all in the uniform and the 
"badge, and were it not for these simple marks of identi- 
fication, these people could hardly be distinguished from 
ordinary mortals. Under our present dispensation, we 
have bureaus and bureaus ; we have departments of all 
kinds and for all purposes. These imply a horde of 
office-holders, and we might add, a horde of office-seekers 
besides. The main duty of the legislature which meets 
every year is to make new laws, and new laws are al- 
ways an intimation that money is to pass into some- 
body's pocket. Every law involves in some way a job, 
and if it did not, it never could have been enacted. 

Do we need government, do we need laws and officers, 
do we need parties and partisans? Does the present 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



217 



government afford us a healthy condition of things ? Is 
the present way nn questionably the best way ? Is the 
present system just to all the people, or even to a con- 
siderable portion of the people ? No, this can hardly be 
affirmed. The people are like so many sheep which are 
shorn annually, and sometimes semi-annually. As a rule, 
under government, it is always the many who labor for 
the few. But such a course is against nature, against 
honesty and fairness, against propriety, and in the very 
nature of things, it cannot last. When people come 
fi nally to open their eyes and understand the facts in all 
their enormity, we are certain to have a change. No 
people was ever content to remain in a condition of 
bondage for an indefinite length of time. 

Government uniformly breeds politics, and politics 
parasites. If we made no laws, we should need no offi- 
cers to execute them, and we might dispense with our 
official paraphernalia, and with all that expensive poli- 
tical machinery which we are now obliged to maintain. 
Again, if our laws were just and satisfactory to the peo- 
ple, we would need no force to keep them in subjection. 
Force is needed solely because it is known that the laws 
are framed in opposition to the wishes of the masses. 

Do we need a nation ? Do we need great cities ? No, 
these are a natural outgrowth arising from a superabun- 
dance of both government and civilization. They origi- 
nate in an unnatural and unhealthy condition of things ; 
they arise chiefly from the existence of certain men who 
are madly ambitious and anxious to become rich and 
powerful. If we had no nation, we would not be com- 
pelled to maintain a costly army and navy. And as to 
cities, if we had none of these, humanity would at least 
be better off than it is now in many respects. Cities 
generate new forms of vice and crime ; they initiate 
the race into new ways of wickedness and corruption. 

Is the world better, are the people better for the force 



218 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



applied and the tortures inflicted in every community 
in some form daily ? Do our jails and prisons, do the 
dungeon and the lock-up serve to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of mankind ? Does such pain and the incurring of 
such disgrace serve to make anybody happier or better ? 
Every thoughtful observer knows that the detestable 
practices which prevail in connexion with punishment 
and imprisonment are in no way calculated to benefit 
mankind. It is claimed that they are necessary. Many 
really fear that the world would collapse in short order, 
were it not for this constant application of force among 
men. That is one of the remarkable delusions under 
which men have labored ever since the Bible became 
recognized as authority — and how much longer, it is im- 
possible now to determine. If our Bible and our re- 
ligion are bad, or at least have bad features, what shall 
we expect from those who trust in such a book and ac- 
cept the tenets of such a religion ? It is a rare thing 
that children are better than their instructors. If the 
Bible teaches the doctrine of revenge, why should those 
who take this book as their guide not be found want- 
ing in mercy and forbearance ? 

The rack, with other cruel appliances for torture, has 
been laid aside for a long time, and no one thinks of its 
former uses or abuses without a shudder. But, with all 
the light and all the advantages that we now have, can 
we not advance a little farther in the same direction, and 
take another step or two in the way of improvement ? 
Can we not lay the whip and the cudgel on the shelf 
and there let them remain untouched forever? Shall we 
not close our jails and prisons, or perhaps demolish them 
entirely ? We really have no need of or use for a single 
one of them. Shall we not dismiss the jailor and execu- 
tioner, and even excuse the judge and the jury for all 
time? In some other calling they might be of some 
service to their fellow men; but so long as they con- 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



219 



tinue in their present career, they are a source of misery 
and wretchedness to families and destroyers of the peace 
and happiness of mankind. Is not that the necessary 
consequence of their action ? The harm that is done by 
our courts, and by those who serve the courts, in the 
course of time, is beyond all possibility of computation or 
calculation. And yet we who do these things, daily and 
habitually, imagine that we are Christians, or that we 
have been Christians some time or other. But if such 
men are Christians, we think a great deal might be said 
to excuse and defend the criminals who are found in 
other walks of life. A man must be judged by what he 
does — and not by the plausible excuses he has to offer 
for his conduct. What does the jailor do, what does the 
judge do, what do the jury do who find men guilty, 
sometimes even when they are innocent? What does 
the executioner do who hurries people to eternity simply 
for the money that he expects for his services? Such 
people are usually pious, doubtless because they feel the 
need of God's protection at all times. Did any mur- 
derer, or robber or pirate ever do more horrible work 
than this executioner? Pirates occasionally condemn a 
man to death, but they do the business quickly, quietly, 
and we may even say humanely, compared with the way 
the business is done by the officers of the law. These 
pirates do not bring a man into court and keep him under 
torture and in suspense for weeks ; they do not keep 
him in jail awaiting sentence, or in the death -cell await- 
ing death. They do not try him and retry him, and 
keep him on the rack of uncertainty for months and 
possibly for years in succession. Ordinary murderers, 
or those supposed to be murderers, suffer pain and 
anguish enough, before their day of execution comes, to 
compensate for their crimes, or their supposed crimes, 
many times over. It seems that when we demand com- 
pensation we want a hundred-fold. After a while, when 



220 



THE NEW DISPENSATION". 



the poor devil's money is gone, and his body is wasted 
perhaps to a skeleton, he is brought out some day when 
he least expects it ; he is led to the death chamber, 
placed in the death chair and there "electrocuted," in 
the presence of a certain number of "witnesses," who 
have traveled a long distance just to be present at the 
performance. Was there ever any pirate, or highway 
robber, or even horse thief that did the like of that? 
And still we are all Christians— every man of us. We 
rather boast of the businesslike manner in which we ad- 
minister "justice" to our fellow mortals! We know 
there is good Bible authority to justify all these proceed- 
ings, but to tell the truth, the author feels sorry for those 
who wrote such a book. He thanks his stars that he is 
not like one of those — and he would thank the Lord 
himself, if he were sure there was such a being. He 
would not hang or electrocute a man for any amount of 
money ; he would not even give in his evidence to con- 
vict him, whether innocent or guilty, for any induce- 
ment whatever, and most assuredly he would not con- 
demn him to death, if he sat on the judge's bench, or in 
the jury box, for all the gold there is in Klondike. In- 
deed, in such a case, money would be no object. If he 
decided to do so base a thing as that, he would at least 
wish to have the credit of doing it from pure motives. 
Oh, but these people say : " We had a warrant for 
doing the deed." A man might have a warrant, it is 
true, but we doubt if that would save him from damna- 
tion, if there were such a punishment. There are no 
excuses for crime — there can be none. If there were ex- 
cuses, they would not be crimes. Neither the president 
of the United States, nor even the emperor of Germany, 
is a man large enough and great enough to change black 
into white. It does not come within the province of 
any man, or of any set of men, to do such a thing. 

" Anarchy, as a germ of political philosophy, must be 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



221 



taken only in its proper sense, which has nothing to do 
with disorder or crime, but denotes a state of society in 
which the rule of each individual by himself is the only 
government the legitimacy of which is recognized. In 
this sense, strict anarchy may be the highest conceivable 
grade of perfection of social existence ; for, if all men 
spontaneously did justice and loved mercy, it is plain 
that all swords might be advantageously turned into 
plow-shares, and the occupation of judges and police 
would be gone." — Prof. Huxley. 



Little is to be said here in regard to revenge, in addi- 
tion to what was said under its proper head. The desire 
for revenge is largely a matter of teaching. If children 
were not taught to resent injuries and to balance wrongs 
with wrongs in all cases, there would not be so many of 
these things to be noticed when the child reaches mature 
years. As has been said before, nothing could be more 
silly and senseless than the efforts we make to be 
avenged of those who, as we imagine, have done us 
injury. It is the work of a madman in all cases, and 
not the work of a rational being. There are no gains 
from such operations, and generally there are serious 
losses to record as the result of our revengeful disposi- 
tion. By such efforts we never make friends ; on the 
contrary, we intensify the hatred of our enemies. Even 
the wounds we have suffered are never healed by what 
we call taking revenge. It is sensible to avoid evil and 
to endeavor to escape injury, but it is not sensible to 
wrangle and contend with those who have given us of- 
fence. People who lead a peaceful, quiet and unostenta- 
tious life uniformly have the most happiness. We 
should be careful whom we associate with, and we should 
pay due regard to the character of the men with whom 
we have dealings. If we keep completely removed from 



222 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



evil-doers and from men with wicked purposes, we ought 
to have little trouble in life. It is with evils as it is with 
disease, far better to avoid and provide against them 
than it is to seek expensive remedies after the damage 
has been occasioned. 

A man should be the possessor of equanimity and 
self-control. Such a person is never known to give 
loose reins to rage or madness. There are some men 
who really imagine that it is highly meritorious to ap- 
pear angry, and who wish to have it understood that 
their honor is something that no man can trifle with and 
do so with impunity. Men are often proud or sensitive 
when there is no reason or occasion for their being proud 
or sensitive. Indeed, there is really nothing that any 
human being may justly be proud of — whether it be his 
beauty, his strength, his ability, or even his goodness or 
magnanimity. 

"We have often said, and we repeat here, there are no 
ranks or classes or castes in this world, much as some 
men would be glad to see them created. One man is as 
good as another, provided of course that he behaves him- 
self properly. And when it comes to the question of 
behavior, there is a great difference of opinion with re- 
gard to that matter. What constitutes good behavior in 
the opinion of some, is quite the reverse in the opinion 
of others. All these things are simply matters of opin- 
ion. In half the cases, if not a greater proportion, when 
we think people are wrong, we are simply wrong our- 
selves. 

No, let us cease to cultivate revengeful feelings, and 
when we have succeeded in removing from our hearts 
all traces of this hateful affection, we shall cease to have 
turmoils and conflicts, and we shall find ourselves living 
in a world where harmony and contentment prevail. 
We shall always find the world a pure reflexion of our- 
selves. If the world seems to be going amiss, it is be- 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



223 



cause we ourselves have gone amiss ; if the world ap- 
pears to be peaceful and happy, it is because our own 
hearts have been cleansed and we ourselves are peaceful 
and happy. 



Intimately connected with the question of revenge is 
that of rewards and punishments. We have seen that 
there can be no just claim for rewards even for goodness. 
Men should have some other motive for doing good than 
an expected reward, whether in the shape of money or 
in the way of glory or renown. When the hope of re- 
ward enters into the consideration, it becomes purely a 
commercial transaction. It is simply hired service. The 
only people entitled to rewards are servants, and whether 
one should have servants is a question that we will not 
discuss at this time. 

The question of punishment identifies itself with the 
question of revenge. We punish men merely because 
we thirst for revenge. If we were not possessed of a 
revengeful spirit, we would never think of punishing 
men or causing them pain, for no other reason than be- 
cause we have been offended by something that they 
have done. We have seen that the right to punish im- 
plies authority ; it implies that men have masters, and 
that some people are better than others. It is clearly 
evident that there is no foundation on which to establish 
such a doctrine. No man has authority, no man is 
better than his neighbor, and no man is worse. As in 
the case of revenge, punishment uniformly results in 
evil, and it never produces effects that are healthful and 
beneficial to mankind. Punishment is not simply a 
wrong, it is a crime, if ever such a thing as crime existed. 
It never affords a remedy. Justice, it will be remem- 
bered, has nothing to do with remedies. Justice identi- 
fies itself with revenge. Its fundamental doctrine lies in 



224 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



the balancing of wrongs with wrongs. If one man kills 
another, it is the bnsiness of Justice to find some other 
person and kill him, in order to make things even. 
Strange doctrine is this, to be recognized and advocated 
at the opening of the twentieth century ! We are some- 
what like the Chinese, who are never very particular who 
the victim is, provided the sacrifice is made. 

In this connexion we wish to impress upon the reader 
the fact that we shall find, when we get down to the 
bottom of the theory of punishment, that we have 
punishments not because this or that man is guilty, but 
in order to make sure of a victim, a sacrifice, and thus 
to satisfy our thirst for revenge. As a rule, we are not 
at all particular whether we hang the right or wrong 
man, when a murder has been committed. What is de- 
manded is simply a victim, any victim, if he is only 
offered up as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of an en- 
raged Deity. The doctrine of a life for a life comes from 
the Bible, and when a life has been taken, the life of 
any other man will answer as an atonement. The same 
rule prevails among savage races ; and indeed it must 
have originated with such races in the first place. With 
them, if one of their family or friends has been slain, 
they kill the first one of the enemy they meet, no matter 
how clearly his innocence may be established. So, 
when we go to war, we kill people not because they 
have done wrong, or even have offended us, but because 
they belong to the other side. No, the true reason why we 
kill people is not because they are guilty of some offence, 
but because they do not belong to our side. That has al- 
ways been the rule and it is the rule still. The old law 
was, and to a large extent is still, that every man who 
does not belong to our tribe or clan, is our enemy and as 
such may be killed on sight. Is it not about time that 
we had something more reasonable, more just, more 
humane in its place ? 

14 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



225 



Christ was sacrificed not because he was guilty, but 
because he was not guilty. So we demand that a man 
should be a patriot and should sacrifice his life, not be- 
cause he has committed some offence, but because the 
country is in danger, and we would a great deal rather 
that he should lose his life than that we should lose ours. 
That is the principle operating in all sacrifices. It is 
much pleasanter, for us, that others should make the 
sacrifice than that we should do so ourselves. The de- 
mand for sacrifices is intensely selfish — nay, it is ex- 
tremely mean. The man who demands that we shall die 
in order that he may live is not far from being a rascal. 
But this principle — or lack of principle — lies at the 
bottom of all punishment. We kill people according to 
law simply to protect ourselves — often merely to make 
ourselves wealthier or more happy. 

The rule with regard to rewards, we might observe, is 
the same as that which prevails in the case of punish- 
ments. In the ebullition of our feelings, when we are 
overwhelmed with gratitude, we are determined to re- 
ward somebody, and it does not matter much who it may 
be. Plenty of men have gone to their graves loaded 
with the blessings and praises of a nation for saving their 
country, when the fact was that they never saved their 
country at all. As a matter of fact no man ever achieved 
such greatness as that. But, as already intimated, our 
feelings boil over, and we are determined to love, praise 
and embrace somebody. So, we select some one — it is 
not much matter whom— and make him the object of 
our adoration. We canonize him. It is precisely the 
same thing as the Egyptians did when they worshiped a 
granite image. They personified it, and so we personify 
our conceptions every day. These unfortunate cases of 
mistaken identity, in rewarding and punishing, all arise 
from the imperfection and unreliableness of evidence. As 
we have often said, nothing can be proved. It is abso- 



226 THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

lately certain that no man, and especially no historical 
character, is what he is represented to be. 



How shall we live and what shall we do ? That is a 
question that is well worth any man's attention and 
stndy. A man may drift along with the current — that 
is a very easy and agreeable way in the beginning ; but 
no man can ever know where he will land, when he 
makes no effort to direct his course and does nothing 
but drift. The men who succeed in life are not those 
only who work, but those who have an aim and who 
labor to some wise purpose. It will not do to simply 
follow fashion and look around constantly to see how 
other people do. Other people may, and often do, act 
unadvisedly and injudiciously. The examples of such 
men are not proper ones for us to follow. 

Every man should have an individuality of his own : 
he should have some purpose and some plan of life. He 
should know not only what he does but why he does it. 
Without some effort of this kind and without reason to 
guide and direct him, no man can expect to make a suc- 
cess of life — he cannot even expect to move along com- 
fortably and pleasantly to the end of his career. Let 
every man depend upon himself and his own unaided 
exertions. There are occasional windfalls, but these are 
so rare that it will not do to count upon them with any- 
thing like confidence or assurance. 



In these our concluding remarks, we would again im- 
press upon the reader the great importance of avoiding 
contracts, promises and obligations of all kinds. Per- 
haps with our present methods of doing business a man 
may occasionally be compelled to make a promise or 
assume some obligation, but it should never be done unless 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



227 



it seems absolutely necessary, and such cases are extremely 
rare. It will be found on reflexion that most of our 
obligations are assumed unnecessarily and often reck- 
lessly. The less we become involved with others in any 
way, the better it will be for us at all times. It will also 
be found that a large share of the ills of life as we now 
find them arise from contracts that we have made and 
obligations assumed which we find ourselves at last un- 
able or unwilling to fulfill. It will be found above all 
that the men who succeed best in life are those who pay 
as they go, who contract no debts and who assume no 
obligations of any kind. If all men followed that rule, 
we should have no business failures at any time. Peo- 
ple who pay as they go cannot fail. Most assuredly no 
sensible man will take obligations upon himself simply 
with a view to accommodate or gratify others. It should 
never be done; indeed, the request itself for such a 
favor should never be made. It is frequently done in 
business, it is true, but, as is well known, the result that 
often follows such a step is the entailing of misery and 
want upon families and individuals that are guilty of no 
wrong, and that therefore should not be compelled to 
suffer. 



It hardly needs to be affirmed that the future of a people 
depends more upon the direction taken by education 
than upon any other agency. Education can be ex- 
cessive in quantity and defective in quality, and we 
think that the education of the present day suffers from 
both these evils. Education necessarily partakes 
largely of the character of the teachings found in the 
Bible. With the Mahometans, their sacred book, the 
Koran, is not only their book of fundamental law, but 
also of fundamental instruction. Their law and their 
teachings are simply the Koran elaborated, explained and 



228 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



amplified. With us, the Bible has no such relations 
either to our legislation or to our instruction, but still its 
sacredness is recognized, in theory at least, and its in- 
fluence upon our life and doctrines can hardly be over- 
estimated. How far this influence has been for the good 
of mankind, is a question upon which men will of course 
continue to differ. 

But it is not the Bible alone whose influence is still so 
perceptible in our beliefs and practices. The teachings 
of Aristotle and Plato also had a wonderful influence 
upon our history ; for centuries they were held next to 
the Bible in sacredness, and to-day these works are 
awarded a praise and conceded an importance to which 
they are hardly entitled. It is a common mistake for 
nations to worship the past too faithfully and devotedly, 
and this was especially the case with those who lived in 
the Middle Ages. Men have always clung to old and 
antiquated doctrines too long and too tenaciously. To- 
day we are teaching classics and mathematics 1 as of old, 
long after they have lost all value and interest for the 
ordinary student. 

But now there comes a time when we want something 
new and something better adapted to the times and the 
people. We want less classics, less mathematics, less 
philosophy of the various kinds, and a great deal more 
of those plain and practical truths that will serve us in 
the present world and at the present time. That that is 
what we want, and the only thing we need in this direc- 
tion now, is a fact which every intelligent man knows 
and appreciates. Every pupil should be educated not 
only according to his capacity and his condition in life, 
but according to the calling or business that he expects 
to follow when he reaches manhood. All that he ac- 
quires beyond that, and all that he meddles with out- 
side of those lines, is so much labor wasted and so much 
time and expense thrown away. 



KEVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



229 



As it is, we press the young too far and too persist- 
ently. We pay too little attention to the body, and 
give too little heed to the soul. True education is not 
simply so many facts taken from books — it is, or ought 
to be, something far above and beyond that. Not quite 
so much culture of the more refined sort, but a great 
deal of judicious training, is what will best serve the 
pupil in after life. What the author claims — himself a 
teacher for many years — is that too many of that pro- 
fession are not fitted for their calling. Teaching is some- 
thing more, a vast deal more, than hearing pupils re- 
cite what they have merely committed to memory. 
There is very little true teaching in such a course. As 
we have intimated before, the mother as found in the 
lower as well as the higher orders of creation, is the true 
model for teachers to follow. She teaches by example 
as well as precept, and never fails in the performance of 
her whole duty as a safe and reliable guide. 

Education in families is still more defective, both in 
quality and quantity, than education in schools. In fact 
it is, in many cases, wholly neglected. The mother, who 
is the proper teacher of our race, according to all the 
dictates of reason and all the lessons of experience, does 
not find time to give due attention to this part of her 
calling. In the wealthier families, instruction is left 
wholly to the nurse or governess ; and in ordinary families, 
to whom it is left, no one knows. The mother, even in 
families of very moderate means, does not find the time 
to attend to what appears to her such an unimportant 
matter as the rearing of her own offspring. She has 
social duties which, in her opinion, are of paramount im- 
portance. She is intensely devoted to the church and 
feels that it could not continue to exist without her 
services and attention. But it is not matters of devotion 
that concern her so much as her ambition to shine among 
the elite of society, as well as to be recognized as a leader 



230 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



in the church. She is inordinately fond of clubs and 
social orders, and these organizations naturally and 
necessarily engross a large share of her time and atten- 
tion. What would clubs and churches do, if it were not 
for the women? It was quite different in St. Paul's 
time. Women then held a subordinate place, and as to 
clubs there were none. But the children, the poor chil- 
dren, what becomes of them now ? Who rocks the 
cradle and attends to the nursing bottle ? This is a part 
of family life that is carefully concealed from public 
view, and so nobody knows just how these things really 
go in that department. Many babies of the tender age 
of four years, or a little over, are sent to the primary 
schools, because that method is found to be cheaper than 
keeping a nurse. In the streets many children are 
generally seen. That method is also cheap — cheap for 
the parents, but dear for society. The consequence is 
that crime increases at an alarming rate, especially 
among the young. Children now-a-days are not reared, 
they grow. Few do well when they reach mature 
years. It is only among the very poor that the young 
are brought up, as they should be, to habits of industry. 
The children of the better classes grow up in indolence 
and spend their time in saloons in winter and at watering 
places in summer. Is it to be wondered at that the 
condition of society at the present time, especially in 
America, is not encouraging? When the very founda- 
tions are undermined, should we not be concerned about 
the safety of the superstructure ? 



Much has been said in another part of this work on 
the subject of gifts, gratuities and sacrifices, but a great 
deal more might be said without exhausting the subject. 
It is a matter of much greater importance than many 
suppose, and the effect of present-making, and self-sacri- 



KEVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



231 



fice with a view to pleasing others, extends much farther 
than most people imagine. There are two classes of 
gifts — those made freely or from choice, and those made 
from duty or compulsion. The latter can hardly be 
termed gifts ; they have more of the characteristics of 
taxes or tributes than of gifts. Of course any man has a 
right to give away anything he possesses, if such be his 
disposition. The only question is, how far he is acting 
foolishly and how far sensibly. If it gratifies him to give, 
let him give, but he should abandon the idea of deriving 
any direct or indirect benefit from such an experiment. 
As we have shown before, there are many serious objec- 
tions to present-making. As a rule, presents do not 
result in benefits to the donor. 

But a more important question is that which involves 
a man's duty to give. Who shall decide what an}^ man 
ought to give ? Nobody in all this wide world is capable 
of doing that except the giver himself, and with him it 
is a matter of feeling rather than of judgment. If he 
consulted the latter only, no doubt he would hesitate ; 
but when it comes to be a matter of feeling, that is quite 
another thing. If a man feels like giving, let him give, 
wherever, whenever and to whomever he chooses. The 
New Testament would seem to favor the doctrine of 
giving — giving to everybody and helping everybody. 
But that is not the only untenable ground that seems to 
be defended in certain chapters of the New Testament. 
Society could not exist for a week if such absurd doc- 
trines were carried out literally. But no attempt is 
made, or ever was made, by any considerable number of 
people, to enforce or practice such doctrines. There is a 
little help that we bestow here and there, but what we 
do give is given to those whom we either fancy or pity. 
No one thinks of giving indiscriminately and univer- 
sally — a man would be considered insane if he attempted 
to do so. At best the most devout, the most benevolent 



232 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



people give only to a very few ; and while they are giv- 
ing to one here, how many thousands are left starving in 
other parts of the world ! No, there is no foundation in 
reason for such a doctrine. As a general thing people 
have all they can possibly do to take care of themselves 
and their families ; and, besides, we should not forget 
how much is done by benevolence and charity towards 
encouraging shiftlessness, indolence and pauperism. 
This is a difficult question to solve, we know, and one 
which every man must dispose of in a manner that suits 
himself best and meets the conditions of his case. The 
obligation is the only thing that we would deny un- 
qualifiedly. In fact we do not recognize obligations of 
any kind. 

Strange as the expression may sound to some people, 
there is, in the opinion of the author, altogether too 
much self-sacrifice in this world. We are continually 
urged to do something for others — we must stand up that 
others may sit down, we must give in order that others 
may receive, we must ourselves be miserable that others 
may be happy. That is the doctrine that many are now 
inclined to advocate. But how shall we measure, or 
how shall we estimate, the damage that is done to society 
by such customs or practices ? It is safe to say that the 
harm thus occasioned is beyond calculation. People are 
led to depend not upon themselves, but upon others. 
They are rendered mean, selfish, shiftless and indolent 
by such misdirected indulgence. When a little is done 
for people, they naturally want more ; while if nothing 
was done for them, they would do their own work and 
expect no assistance from any source. Is it not a well 
known fact that children are spoiled by being constantly 
favored ? Is it not also a fact that the wife loses in 
dignity and character by making a slave of herself 
simply to please her husband ? Does he value her more 
for the sacrifices she has made ? No, he values her less. 



KEVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



233 



It is equally true that the husband should not make a 
slave of himself merely to please the wife he loves. No 
person should make a slave of himself or herself under any 
circumstances. It never pays. It is not the way to gain 
either friendship or esteem, or to secure satisfaction of 
any kind. Let all stand upon the same plane, and deal 
with each other on fair, equal and independent terms. 
That is the only way to get along in this world and live 
— that is, live as people should live, and prosper. There 
really is no spirit so mean and so contemptible as that 
which actuates people who are constantly begging us or 
urging us to give ! give ! ! " Keep doing for others, be a 
patriot, and make sacrifices so as to please your friends 
and neighbors." This is the cry that is heard all over 
the land. But the one who gives simply because others, 
who are undoubtedly as able as himself, want him to 
give, deserves to have his name recorded as the champion 
idiot of the times. This giving mania is the most alarm- 
ing moral disease of the present age, and it is doing more 
serious injury to humanity than any other agency. To 
be polite, we must give, we must sacrifice, and we must 
do so constantly ; we must put ourselves to trouble and 
must suffer pain, merely to gratify those whom we hope 
to please. The whole thing originates in the theory that 
society is founded on slavery, and that since some men 
are better than others, they must be served by those who 
are supposed to be inferior to themselves. 

We quote in this connexion the following from the 
N. Y. Times: "The woman who is constantly giving 
up everything for everybody does no good to herself or 
any one else. Even the children that she so dearly loves 
she will not permit to grow independently. She does 
everything for them and they have nothing to do for 
themselves. By such a course she makes them selfish 
and they do not thank her for it. They like a pleasant, 
cheerful mother, not a tiresome drudge. And how one 



234 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



comes to hate those martyrs who will sacrifice themselves 
in spite of everything ! They spend their time and 
money for others and have the martyr spirit uncon- 
sciously, whether they mean to show it or not. Half the 
time the helpful things they do for others, the others 
would rather do for themselves. There are new ideas of 
a woman's duty in this generation." 

It will be observed that the doctrine of giving and that 
of sacrificing are identical in character. We are taught 
that it is our duty to give because it is our duty to sacri- 
fice. The Bible teaches the propriety or necessity of 
sacrificing, and giving must follow as a natural conse- 
quence. The church teaches the duty of charity, benevo- 
lence, protection and assistance to others — and our laws, 
being supposed to be based upon scriptural authority, 
embody the same doctrine. 

But how strange, how irrational do we find charity to 
be, when all its results and influences come to be fully 
understood ! And if it be such a blessing and a delight- 
ful thing to give, as many pretend it is, why should not 
everybody give and give to everybody? In that way 
perhaps we ourselves might at last get something gratu- 
itously. That would be very gratifying indeed, but the 
amount that we should ever obtain in that way would 
at best be quite insignificant. The Bible does not teach 
the duty of receiving, but only the duty of giving. 
Everybody must give — only a few are so fortunate as to 
receive. The church does not give — it receives ; the 
state does not give, it receives. But a man may give too 
much ; he can keep giving till finally he has nothing 
left. That has often happened. 

The prevailing craze of the present day is to get some- 
thing for nothing, something that other people must pay for. 
There are other crazes, of course, plenty of them, but 
there is no craze like this one which we have just been 
considering. 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION". 



235 



What shall we say on the subject of marriage, in ad- 
dition to what has been said already? Much might be 
observed, but a work of this kind is not the place in 
which to treat so delicate a matter with the fullness and 
freedom that it deserves. People have some very ab- 
surd notions on that subject, and it will require some 
time yet before these can be removed from their minds. 
Argument alone will have no perceptible influence in 
that direction. People must grow before they may be 
able to rid themselves of crude notions and strange mis- 
conceptions. 

There are several mistakes made in connexion with 
the customary treatment of the marriage question. The 
first mistake lies in supposing that there is something 
divine about the relation, that matches are made in 
heaven, and that God cares for married people as he 
does not care for those who are single. But the fact is, 
marriage is a simple everyday affair in which God has 
no more concern than he has about the man who mows 
grass or the boy who feeds swine. There is too much 
marrying for love, especially in this country. As a rule 
when people marry for love, they do not marry for any- 
thing else. As a matter of fact marrying is the most im- 
portant business engagement into which a man or woman 
ever enters, and the whole proceeding from first to last 
should be treated solely as an ordinary business transac- 
tion. But when two young people, usually boys and 
girls, fall in love, they never ask any questions after 
that. However, if they have matrimony in view, a great 
many questions should be asked: Are the couple of 
mature years ; are they adapted to each other in age, 
disposition and ways of thinking ? Marriage is a pure 
partnership, and nothing else — a partnership more im- 
portant than any other, because it is supposed to last for 
life. Are the parties possessed of health, with fair pros- 
pects of continuing in health ? Have either or both the 



236 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



means and the determination to make life a success? 
If they have not wealth, they need strong bodies and 
resolute hearts to meet all the conditions and vicissitudes 
of life. If children come, as they are apt to come, they 
must be reared ; they must be fed and clothed and edu- 
cated. This implies not only labor but some surplus 
money at command. If marriage is, as it seems to be, 
a partnership and nothing else, it should not be a one- 
sided affair. Neither should marry with the simple ob- 
ject in view of receiving a support. It is preposterous 
that one should work and save, and the other not. Such 
a partnership will never prove a success. It is a sicken- 
ing fact that too many men take wives merely to save 
the expense of keeping a mistress. If the couple merely 
wish to enjoy each other's society, what is the need or 
propriety of getting married? 

One thing seems clear, and that is that marriage should 
be treated as an ordinary business matter is treated, as a 
simple contract between two individuals, to be governed 
by conditions similar to those which prevail in the case 
of other contracts. It is not a contract for life any more 
than any other contract is for life. The amazing in- 
crease in divorces shows very clearly that marriage is 
not, and cannot be, necessarily, a contract for life. If 
two people fail to agree, after a fair trial, they will sep- 
arate ; the married always have done so, and they al- 
ways will. It is a crime for the state to attempt to force 
two people to masquerade as man and wife when the 
world knows they are not such. Indeed, the less the 
state has to do with such matters, the better it will be 
for all concerned. If two people will not agree and will 
not harmonize, no state is powerful enough to compel 
them to harmonize. 

The main question lies not so much in annulling con- 
tracts of marriage after they are made as in making the 
proper contract in the first place. If two people are well 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



237 



mated they will get along successfully and happily 
through life without any reference to the contract, or 
whether it be a private contract or a state matter. It is 
well known that people marry too freely in America and 
without sufficient forethought and consideration. If the 
state really wants to serve the public, it cannot do so by 
trying to convert a bad match into a good one after it 
has been made, but its powerful influence should be 
exerted in the direction of endeavoring to prevent the 
making of improper and unpromising matches in the 
first place. 

That there is too much license and too much freedom 
from restraint in marriage, is a fact that cannot be ques- 
tioned. Perhaps there is as much evil resulting from 
excesses incident to matrimony as would be found out- 
side the marriage state. Does the ceremony have the 
effect to ratify what is wrong, or to excuse what is 
against nature? There should be no mistake or ques- 
tion about the fact that the laws of nature cannot be 
trifled with or disregarded in any such way with im- 
punity. If a man violates nature's laws by excesses of 
any kind, there is no sacrifice or ceremony that will en- 
able him to escape the penalty incurred. There are vices 
in marriage, as well as vices outside of its lines — a fact 
that is pretty generally known, though not often men- 
tioned. It should not be forgotten that wrongs are not 
wrongs simply because they are illicit, but because of 
the evil results that follow. If a law were enacted de- 
claring drunkenness beneficial or meritorious, would that 
make it so ? Would it be any less an injury and an 
offence to society? But this is the very evident at- 
tempt made in the case of marriage. In this case the 
ceremony is expected to cover a multitude of sins, and 
it generally does. Marriage is not so sacred as many 
assume. However, the law and the ceremony throw a 
veil over the scene and thus people are kept from talk- 



238 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



ing. It should not be forgotten that married people are 
precisely like other people — no better and no worse — 
and it is well to bear in mind that the human race as a 
whole are the most intemperate creatures known. They 
are absolutely lacking in self-control, when tempted by 
passion or appetite. The lower animals have their sea- 
sons ; men have none. 

Marriage might be a far greater success than it is, if 
entered upon with more hesitation and with a better ac- 
quaintance with the facts and conditions connected with 
such a relation. How much the comfort of the race 
might be enhanced, and how much higher the average 
length of human life might rise, if the weak and the 
constitutionally diseased were eliminated from the list 
of candidates for matrimony ! How much longer and 
happier men might live, if they understood the laws of 
health better than they do, and if these were given more 
attention and consideration than they usually receive at 
the present day ! And if parents were not so modest or 
so ignorant as they frequently are, their children when 
they marry would be better fitted for their new duties 
and position, and mistakes and blunders would not be so 
common as they are. 



There is no subject of greater importance, and perhaps 
none of greater interest to society, than that of riches. 
Why should men desire to be rich ? Chiefly because 
they are proud and they desire to excel. They want to 
attain a higher rank than their neighbors ; they want to 
be admired, and perhaps stared at ; they are anxious to 
make a sensation ; they want to possess power and make 
conquests. These are the main motives that actuate 
men in their pursuit of riches, but of course there are 
still other motives. However, in some cases, no doubt, 
there is an absence of motive. Men strive to be rich be- 



EEVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



239 



cause they have got into the habit of making money, and 
they want to do as other people do. 

But after all there is little of real service and worth in 
wealth. What value for us can anything have which 
we find it impossible to use ? Of all the senseless 
habits that men contract, that of making money for the 
mere sake of making money is the most ridiculous of all. 
There are fools of all ranks and of all degrees, but the 
most exalted fool of all is the man who spends a whole 
life time in accumulating a property which he must 
abandon when he dies, and which somebody else will be 
sure to enjoy. He might be called a benefactor, but 
everybody knows how selfish he was while living, and 
so he gets no credit for even the good that he is pre- 
sumed to have done. 



What rule should prevail in regard to titles to prop- 
erty, or what practice should be followed under the 
present state of things ? This is a serious question. But 
there is no question about the fact that things are not 
right as they are, and that almost any change in this 
department of law would be an improvement. There is 
no possible question that in theory, as a pure matter of 
reason, no man can have any just title to property, and 
especially none to real property. It is indeed true, as 
the Bible says : " The earth is the Lord's and the full- 
ness thereof." And certainly if it is the Lord's, it can- 
not be the property of the state, or of any man under the 
state. In considering this question of title to property, 
it must not be forgotten that there is no evidence of the 
existence of a God, and the state itself is found on closer 
acquaintance to be only a parvenu, without the slightest 
semblance of legitimacy on which to base its claims. 

As matters are now, and as they will, no doubt, con- 
tinue to be, a long time hence, just and salutary regula- 



240 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



tions ought to be established in regard to personal 
property, but it should not by any means be conceded 
that any man should be permitted to seize upon and re- 
tain whatever he has the power to hold, or whatever he 
is able to lay his hand on. All that a man acquires or 
accumulates through his own labor should unquestion- 
ably be his. But when it comes to land, we ought to 
have a radical change in our laws at once. No man 
should be permitted to hold an unlimited amount of real 
property, and it should be made impossible to found 
a large estate under any circumstances. Above all there 
should be no such thing known or recognized as a will to 
be probated or any law of inheritance. It must be evident 
to our readers that the author has in view to establish 
such conditions in regard to property that there could be 
no such thing as wealth. No real good, but much evil, 
comes from a superabundance of means. As we have 
elsewhere stated, we would not rob the rich sooner than 
we would the poor. We would concede to them what 
they possess, but we would take care to remove the 
possibilities of any increase of wealth in future. As 
said before, we would remove the supports and take 
away the assistance that wealth has all along received 
from the state, and by so doing we would render the 
acquiring of wealth an actual impossibility. After this 
change, if a man accumulated any great amount of 
property, he could do so only by adopting the methods 
of the robber; and no community would tolerate the 
residence in their midst of such a man after his character 
had become known. 



In the opinion of the author, nothing found in this 
book is of greater importance than what is said on the 
subject of trials and evidence. He quotes, in the be- 
ginning, the very highest authority, that of Christ, in 

15 



EEVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



241 



favor of the doctrine indicated by the following words : 
"Condemn not," " Judge not," "Swear not." If we did 
not condemn, of course there would be no trials, no 
punishments. It is equally true that if men swear not, 
we would have no trials, and again we should have no 
condemnation and no punishment. 

If people could only shake off their antiquated notions, 
as they would remove an old garment that had been 
patched and pieced till it had become worthless, they 
could easily see that there is absolutely no foundation 
for the pretended right of trial and condemnation. Such 
a thing could only be permitted on the assumption that 
some men are wiser and better than others ; that some 
men have rights and urerogatives that others do not 
possess ; that, finally, some men are rightfully the masters 
of other men, who have the position of slaves, and there- 
fore also the obligations of slaves. But this is a doctrine 
that, at this late day, no one dares to openly advocate. 

The only shadow of an argument in favor of trials 
and punishments lies in their supposed necessity. But 
this, as we have seen, has no foundation in fact. Wrongs 
and cruelties are never necessary, and it is impossible to 
bring forward a single argument as an excuse or justifi- 
cation for their perpetration. We have seen over and 
over again that men operating in the name of the state, 
or acting in the role of masters, have absolutely no rights 
or privileges that other men do not possess. We have 
seen also that punishment, tortures and sufferings do not 
make men better, do not protect society, and do not 
afford any lasting benefit of any kind to any one. There 
is hence no possible excuse for their continued existence. 

Then, as the author hopes, he has given such an 
analysis of what is understood to be evidence on trials 
that the matter must appear to unprejudiced minds in 
an entirely new light. It must be evident to all who 
are inclined to reflect upon the question that there is no 



242 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



such thing as proof in the sense commonly understood; 
and that when we assume to punish men for crimes that 
we pretend to have proved, we are putting forth a false 
and deceiving plea, and we are dealing with our fellow 
men in a most unjust, most cruel and tyrannical manner. 



People are constantly clamoring for success. They 
want to be happy ; they want prosperity. Shfill we say 
they have been getting these desirable possessions to a 
satisfactory extent under the old dispensation? Surely, 
people are not more contented now than formerly; we 
sometimes think they complain more than ever before. 
Speaking generally, people cannot be said to be happy, 
or they would not murmur so constantly and so loudly 
as they do. We have had civilization for several thou- 
sands of years, in certain parts of the earth, and for over 
fifteen hundred years Christianity has prevailed over a 
large portion of the globe, and still, as we have already 
intimated, people as a rule are anything but happy. 

Civilization, under what is supposed to be an improved 
plan has been fairly and fully tried for several centuries 
past. We have been making progress, or advancement, 
at a rapid rate. We have had science and arts as people 
never had them before. We have had inventions and 
made improvements till we have been amazed at our 
own smartness. And still, it must be confessed, that 
•our civilization has not proved a success. People have 
sickened and died as people did of yore ; sorrows and 
suffering we have had to a greater extent than were ever 
known when men lived in what was called a state of bar- » 
barism. Life instead of being more safe now is con- 
fessedly less protected than before. Every new inven- 
tion of any importance seems to afford some new route 
by which people can be sent out of this world with 
.greater despatch than formerly. We have trolley cars 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



243 



and automobiles, and dynamite and other explosives 
which people knew nothing about a short time since. 
We have crimes upon crimes, most of which were en- 
tirely unknown in barbarous ages. Corruption and im- 
morality have reached higher flights than have ever before 
been reported. We have a few rich men, it is true, but 
at the same time the number of paupers, imbeciles, and 
insane people has increased a hundred, if not a thousand- 
fold — and suicides, which were hardly known among so- 
called barbarous races, have become alarmingly frequent 
in all civilized and Christian countries. That the race 
has deteriorated, compared physically, as well as morally, 
with natives, is a fact that can hardly be disputed. 
Among the savages, wigs and false teeth are things un- 
known, and such a disease as the gout or dyspepsia, we 
venture to say, is never heard of. 

It is true that people live faster, travel faster, eat 
faster, think faster and work faster now than people did 
in ages past, but even with these "modern improve- 
ments " people do not seem to be any better satisfied 
than people were in other days; and so far as we can 
perceive, they are not any better situated in any respect. 
Then, what shall we do to improve our condition ? One 
thing is certain, we shall not be made happier by con- 
tinuing to travel in the same direction that we are now 
traveling, even at the present speed. Neither our civili- 
zation, nor our state, nor our church, seems to answer 
our purpose — nor do all of them, with their energies 
combined. They certainly do not afford us the relief 
that is sought. Why should we not try some other 
method? Why not give the matter our serious attention 
and endeavor to discover some new course that may be 
found safer and perhaps more satisfactory every way 
than the one we have been following all along? 

Whether the course briefly, and rather imperfectly, in- 
dicated in the New Dispensation will prove any better, 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



is something that can never be ascertained until it has 
been fairly tried. Discussion and theorizing will not 
answer the purpose ; what is needed is simply a fair 
trial. Can people get along, can they succeed in the 
proper sense of the term, by leading a sober, quiet, 
peaceful, sensible and unostentatious life? The experi- 
ment is at least worth the trying. People might begin, 
if they chose, to-day, or perhaps to-morrow, right here, 
even with all the disadvantages offered and the obstruc- 
tions thrown in the way by our modern civilization. It 
has succeeded in individual cases, a great many times, 
and there is no doubt that it might prove equally suc- 
cessful if tried by the masses of mankind. 

Let the experimenter begin by worshiping neither 
(rod nor man, and depending for his success solely upon 
his own unaided exertions, so far at least as all the af- 
fairs of practical life are concerned. Let him bear in 
mind, that, as has been said before, life is mainly as we 
make it. Let him make no sacrifices, give no gifts, vow 
no vows, bind himself by no contracts, enter into no 
controversies, keep out of other people's quarrels, and 
as far as possible avoid coming under the domination of 
anybody. In all he does, let him have a good reason 
for his action ; in other words, let him act at all times 
like a sensible person. Let him waste neither time, 
money nor muscle. Let him pay as he goes, and deal 
only with those who follow the same rule. He should 
be careful and thoughtful in all his works, and never, if 
he can possibly avoid it, trust himself to fate or circum- 
stances, or to the promises of other men. If he pays as he 
goes, and always adheres to the rule to make his expenses 
less than his income, he can never fail and never come to 
want People who fail are those who trust to luck or 
Providence, and are fond of taking chances. 

Our experimenter will find no occasion for the aid or 
counsel of lawyers, because he will avoid lawsuits at all 



EE VIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



245 



times ; and as to doctors and ministers, lie will rarely 
need to call upon any of them for assistance. Of course 
he should obey the law, right or wrong, and pay his 
tribute when called upon, because that is the way to save 
trouble and avoid difficulty. Under the conditions of 
government as now existing, and with human nature as 
it is, people must learn to endure wrongs to a certain ex- 
tent and not murmur. As to taking revenge, or making 
matters even with one's adversary, no sensible man will 
ever let such a thought enter his head. Indeed, if a 
man be wise, he will never have an adversary in the 
first place. He will banish pride and have no desire to 
sit in front seats or high places. The greatest favor he 
can ask is to be let alone, and allowed to pursue his own 
way, being governed entirely by his own views as to 
what is proper or necessary. Above all he will disregard 
the whims of fashion, and govern his action by what he 
conceives to be his own interest, rather than by what is 
done by other people. 

It is a veiy serious mistake to suppose that people can- 
not live, even in this sinful world, at the same time 
quietly, comfortably and pleasantly. Most certainly 
they can, if they will. If a man has good health and is 
willing to work ; if he has ordinary sense and a fair 
amount of prudence ; if he is neither proud, ambitious 
nor revengeful ; if he cares neither for wealth, rank, 
honor nor distinction ; if he minds his own affairs and is 
willing that others shall mind theirs — why should he not 
be able to lead a peaceful life and secure a comfortable 
living ? Life is not necessarily a continual combat with 
others ; and if we have trials and tribulations, it will 
usually be found that they are the result of our own 
imprudence or our own transgressions. 



In this work the author has endeavored to avoid 



246 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



everything that might seem like agressiveness on his 
part; he has had no cause to defend, and there is no 
sect or party which he has felt disposed to antagonize. 
What he has written is simply a matter of judgment, 
and not a matter of feeling. He has given only the con- 
clusions at which he has arrived after fifty years of study 
and reflexion, and for these conclusions he is, of course, 
in no wise responsible. He merely presents them to the 
public, and he does not insist upon their acceptance by 
any one. Those who are satisfied with the old faith and 
who think it incapable of either advancement or im- 
provement, will certainly find nothing to interest them 
in a work of this character. Every man is entitled to the 
full enjoyment of his own belief, and he who molests 
him or presses him to accept some new faith instead, 
does him an injustice. Changes of belief are things that 
come from within, and not from pressure applied to the 
outside. 

The reader will observe that this is not a treatise on 
theology ; nor has it been the author's aim to teach a 
new religion. It is not even a work on government, 
though it contains much that is said incidentally on both 
religion and government. It is above all a Book of 
Life, with one leading aim kept constantly in view — 
to teach mankind how to live and how to die. In the 
author's opinion, those who busy themselves with aims 
other than this simply waste their time. Every one 
should study the subject of religion, so that he may see 
how little of it is needed at this stage of the world. Every 
one also should inquire into the nature and workings of 
government, that he may see and appreciate how easily 
government might be dispensed with. 

As a rule, men fall short of success in life because 
they do not deserve success — because they do not study 
the problems of life and strive to meet its conditions. 
Life as we have it is a struggle between contending 



REVIEW AND CONCLUSION. 



247 



forces ; and in this never-ending conflict, it is not the 
strong who succeed necessarily, but those who prove 
themselves active, prudent and watchful. In this life, in 
this world as we have it now, there is no success ivithout 
effort — nay more, there must be unceasing labor, and that 
labor must be applied at the right place and in the right 
manner, to make success possible. Above all other 
things, the New Dispensation teaches the doctrine of 
individuality, of self-help, of reliance upon one's own 
unaided exertions. It teaches that those who depend 
upon Providence, upon the State, upon Destiny — upon 
the winds, upon lottery tickets, upon windfalls, upon 
legacies left by somebody's will, upon charity or benev- 
olence, or even upon the mistakes or forgetful ness of 
others — are sure to fail ultimately. 

That the author's aims in preparing and publishing 
such a work have been worthy, no one will deny. He 
has sought to smooth the pathway of life and render 
men better, but how far he will succeed in his efforts 
remains to be seen. He confesses that his expectations 
in this direction are not high. All the tendencies of the 
times at present are against the acceptance of such just 
and sensible doctrines as are found embodied in the New 
Dispensation. But the author has done his part, and to 
the best of his ability. This work he has performed 
simply because he felt so impelled, and knowing full 
well that he will never receive any appreciable returns, 
even under the most favorable circumstances, for the 
money invested and the labor expended. The seed has 
been sown ; where will it fall, and when will it ger- 
minate ? It will take time, and probably a considerable 
time, to be enabled to answer this question. 



LIVING THOUGHTS 

UNDEK THE 

NEW DISPENSATION. 



With the foregoing pages, this work is properly com- 
pleted. The author has covered all the ground that he 
contemplated in the beginning, and he believes that, 
with what he has said already, the subject may be con- 
sidered to be fairly and fully presented. Having set 
forth his views in what may be called plain and intelligible 
English, what now remains to be done is a part that be- 
longs exclusively to his readers. If they wish to learn, 
and appreciate what has been written, they must give 
the matter their serious attention and make the required 
effort for their own advancement. In no other way is 
it possible for any one to learn. As we have seen be- 
fore, learning is an active, not a passive process. Wis- 
dom is not transmitted; it is a matter of growth and 
development. That all who read the book will be con- 
vinced, is more than could reasonably be expected. 
The beliefs and the opinions of people are modified 
slowly, and radical changes in this direction rarely re- 
sult from the reading of any one book. 

What appears in the following pages is given by way 
of amplification, and with a view to strengthen and sup- 
port what has already been stated. Some of the thoughts 
have not been touched upon in the preceding pages, 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



249 



but all of them are supposed to be in line with the topics 
that have thus far been discussed. The thoughts here 
noticed appear in the form of paragraphs that are distinct 
from each other; and wherever the ideas could be 
brought out fairly and satisfactorily by the use of a few 
words, only a few have been employed. Hence many 
of the paragraphs are short, but they are none the less 
complete. It is a waste of space to spread out over a 
page what might be fairly presented in a few lines. 

All of these thoughts are vital, living thoughts, 
and when contemplated in their bearings and con- 
sequences, they will be found to be of the utmost im- 
portance. Many of them embody sound and valuable 
rules of life. It is believed that the form adopted will 
be found a desirable one for the presentation of such 
leading ideas as are brought into notice in this case. 
People will read a paragraph that will not bother with a 
chapter. Besides, there are many, even among those 
who are deemed intelligent, who tire of long discussions, 
and who have an aversion for the labored efforts and the 
intricacies that are characteristic of close reasoning. 
These paragraphs are given without any attempt at 
order, for each is complete in itself and has neither de- 
pendence nor relation. 

In this, as m other portions of the work, the same 
thought, in some instances, appears more than once — in 
other words, it is repeated — but it will be observed that in 
every instance it appears in a new dress or comes forward 
in some new connexion. In fact, it has not been a 
matter of any concern to the author how often a thought 
reappeared, provided it came in properly and necessarily 
and belonged where it was found. It will be re- 
membered that the chief aim and effort of the writer, 
throughout the book, has been to interest, impress and 
convince; and to do this successfully, thoughts must 
come up repeatedly in new forms and new connexions. 
It was Johnson's opinion that : " You must say the 
same thing over and over again, in different words. If 
you say it but once, they miss it in a moment of inat- 
tention." And John Hall says: " A superficial person 
is apt to suppose that to tell a thing once is sufficient 
for all purposes. A thoughtful person knows the con- 
trary." 



250 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Nothing is so wholesome as a sound rule of life. 

The last thing that a man is willing to confess is. that 
he has made a mistake. 

The way of the transgressor is indeed hard, but every 
evil-doer imagines that he can slip out by some side door, 
and so escape the consequences of his crimes. 

As a rule, people do not seem to understand that a 
great deal of money can be wasted even in a good cause. 

There is no short road to truth. It is at the end of a 
long lane, and that is the route that must be followed by 
those who expect to reach the object of their search. 

No man could think wrong if he tried. Every 
thought is true, so far as it goes. But it often happens 
that thoughts are one-sided, or incomplete, or perhaps 
confused and indefinite. To say that a thought is not 
true, is the same as saying that a river is not true, or a 
tree is not true. A thought is one of nature's produc- 
tions. Even art. as well as science, is nature's work. 
All that is. is natural. It is also true and right. 

Two things at least are necessary to success in life — 
hard work and good management. Neither alone will 
suffice. 

Nobody gets anything for nothing. If a man does not 
pay for what he gets, he owes for it. Even gifts imply 
obligations. In other words, things are worth what they 
cost, and they cost what thev are worth. The gains and 
losses uniformly counterbalance each other. 

Even poverty has its advantages, and wealth its dis- 
advantages. 

Inventions keep pace with demand : where there is no 
demand, there no inventions will be found. 

It is rather late in the day to claim that there is any 
necessarv connexion between one murder and another 
murder, or to claim that a murder by a citizen can be 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



251 



compensated for by a murder by the state. The only 
perceptible result in such a case is that the community 
has two murders in place of one, and that committed by 
the state is much the more horrible of the two. 

One wrong never justifies another wrong. We should 
do right, even though others do not. No trick or ma- 
neuver, no sort of manipulation can ever change a wrong 
into a right. No legislature is capable of such an 
achievement. Even Grod himself could not do such a 
thing, for God cannot do impossible things. Nature is 
stronger and more irresistible than Grod. Nature's de- 
mands must always be complied with. If a man op- 
poses nature he must suffer for his temerity: but he may 
oppose Grod and experience no harm whatever. It must 
be remembered that (rod is not a natural production. 
God is simply a conception emerging from the brain of 
man. There is no other God — there never was. 

Is it not remarkable that people should have before 
them the long list of horrible crimes committed since the 
day that Moses slew the Egyptian, and since David and 
Joshua were guilty of their terrible atrocities, and still 
believe that a just and merciful God rules the universe? 
If such is the God that we must adore, then the Devil 
has evidently been most shamefully maligned and 
neglected. 

The affliction called ;i bighead " has ruined thousands 
of men ; and it has destroyed scores and scores of nations. 
1ST either change of climate nor medicine of any kind seems 
to afford any remedy in such a case. The more the 
patient is doctored for the '"bighead," the worse his con- 
dition finally becomes. 

Success in undertakings has a wonderful influence 
upon the minds of men. It can even change black into 
white, and make crooked paths seem straight unto men. 

Hate begets hate, and kindness, kindness. 



252 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



What a man believes depends largely upon his in- 
terests, sympathies and associations. No man can be- 
lieve what he prefers ; he cannot even follow his better 
judgment in all cases. 

In the eyes of the world it is only sinful to sin when 
the world knows that we sin. The worst of criminals 
are as good as any one till their crimes are discovered. 
In other words, wickddness is wholly a matter of public- 
ity. Some people are better than others only because 
they are less known. 

Yoltaire says that history is only a record of crimes 
and misfortunes. That is what history has been, but 
what it should not be. There is much, very much, in 
this world besides crimes and misfortunes. In fact there 
are very few real crimes and real misfortunes. Miseries 
that we bring upon ourselves are not misfortunes. 

Men need not love everybody ; they need not love 
anybody. There is such a thing as esteem without love. 
Love in itself is chiefly carnal. 

It is unfortunate to be either behind or ahead of the 
times. In either case people are apt to lose sight of a 
person ; and when a man is lost to sight, he might as 
well be buried. 

The main motive for war is profit. If no one derived 
any profit from war, such conflicts would never be 
known. Usually it is a diamond mine or a gold mine 
that is in question. How many lives are the proper 
equivalent of a gold mine? 

Everybody has a heart, or he could not live. Even 
children have hearts. According to their size, they have 
bigger hearts than men have. Criminals also have hearts. 

It is probable that there never was a religion not 
founded largely on fraud and deception. We know it 
was so in the case of Mahomet and Joe Smith ; we know 
it was largely so with the Greeks and Romans. Is our 
religion an exception? 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



253 



If people did not live so largely in cities and towns, 
they would not be so easily conquered. The Arabs have 
never been conquered. They live in deserts and they 
have few cities to lose. People who possess nothing 
are never robbed. 

Civilization in the main is a straggle against nature. 
It requires no effort, no struggle, to do what nature dic- 
tates or what nature requires. The struggle comes only 
when we oppose nature. All of man's laws are against 
nature. Nature has no laws. There is no need of laws 
to compel people to do what it is natural to do or what 
they wish to do. Laws are only for those who do not 
will or wish to do what a few other men happen to want 
done. 

Even Grod can do nothing without instruments, and 
his instruments usually are men. He made the world 
out of nothing, perhaps, but he has done nothing of that 
kind since. Even (rod's power is largely imaginary. 
He can do nothing alone — that much is certain. Even 
if Grod were able to do anything, nobody would know of 
it unless men told of the occurrence. 

Works of supererogation are rarely profitable. As a 
general thing gifts do not bring satisfactory returns. 

People always worship their own gods, and never the 
gods of strangers. Personal interest has everything to do 
with the character of the gods that a man decides to ac- 
cept, and when people are not afraid, or when they ex- 
pect no favors, they do not worship any gods. 

Man is the most selfish of all animals. He thinks of 
himself and himself only. This is natural, however. 
Does not the Bible say that the world was made for man, 
with all there is in it? 

Make no contracts ; contracts bind a man, and no one 
should be bound by contracts at any time. A man 
should do nothing that deprives him of freedom. 

Is the Devil dead? No, he is not dead. There are 



254 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



probably as many devils as there ever were, and they are 
as bad as they ever were. There are many devils who 
have no horns on their heads, and they have neither hoofs 
nor caudal appendage. At least, these things do not 
show in the picture. 

If we had better laws — or rather no laws at all — if we 
had an improved education leading us into safer and 
wiser ways, if we had no governors and no masters of 
any kind, we should have neither those who are rich 
nor those who are poor; and having neither the rich nor 
the poor, we should find no occasion for charity. 
Charity implies misery, but there is no need of misery 
in this world. To remove misery, we must remove the 
causes of misery. If there were no misery, charity 
would have nothing to do, and its occupation would be 
gone. 

In war people begin wrong in the first place, and after- 
wards they resolve to stick to their error. They put up 
their flag where it does not belong, and then refuse to 
haul it down. They say it would be disgraceful to do 
such a thing as to haul the flag down ! 

What people delight in above all things, is having 
other people spend their money, while they themselves 
reap the benefit. They follow the Bible injunction, to 
seek not their own but another's wealth. 

" Whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking 
no questions for conscience sake." Do not be too partic- 
ular and ask too many questions ; and especially you 
should keep away from the kitchen. 

" All things are lawful for me, but all things are not 
expedient." We are at liberty to do as we please at all 
times, but it is not always expedient to do whatever 
happens to come into our heads. 

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 
That may be so for the slave, but not for free men. 
The true man fears nothing. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



255 



"Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." The 
Devil never bothers anybody unless he has some en- 
couragement. The strange woman would never get into 
trouble, if she would keep on her side of the street. 

The Americans are the most extravagant spendthrifts 
in the world. They waste every year more than enough 
to support comfortably any ordinary nation of the same 
size. 

How absurd is the prevailing belief that fear makes 
men good ! That men must fear God, fear the Devil, 
fear eternal punishment ! Every sensible person knows 
that goodness and morality do not come from any such 
source. Slaves are never good, because they have no 
will to govern their actions. Slaves do as they are told, 
and they have no other controlling motive. 

It is curious that the question which should concern 
people most, concerns them least — the question how to 
live. 

The ancients had wise men whose counsels they de- 
lighted to follow. The moderns imagine they have an 
improvement over this method. They follow the lead 
of boys and fools, and they believe that they can get 
along pretty well without counsel. 

It is comparatively an easy thing for a strong nation 
to conquer a weak one, but there can be no glory in such 
success. Yet there are nations that make a business of 
hunting up weak people to govern and civilize. They 
affect to believe that they are doing the Lord's work ! 
But that is a mistake. They are doing the Devil's work 
every time. 

If there were no demand, there would be no supply. 
It is so in the case of sin. If there were no occasion for 
sinful doings, there would be no sin. 

God exists only in the minds of men — if God exists at 
all. If there were no men to think of God, to conceive 
of God, to give him form, appearance and character, 



256 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



there could be no God. God is an effect, a production 
of man. So it is with light, sound, electricity, and quali- 
ties of all kinds, and with shapeless and intangible things 
generally. There is no light of the sun where there is 
no eye to receive that light. The sun does not light up 
all space, but only that small distance from the earth to 
which the powers of the eye extend. There are no 
sights unseen, and no sounds unheard. A sight unseen 
would be like a blow not struck. The rocks and trees 
do not hear sounds nor see sights. For us, things do not 
exist until we see them or discover them. Things that 
we do not know are unknown. 

A man's religion has much to do with his character 
and history. A man's belief is his religion, and as a 
man believes, so will be his actions. 

There are two sides at least to all questions. What is 
victory for one side is always defeat for the other. 
What is right for one man is wrong for another. 

When a man is young, he is confident that he knows 
as much as he ever will. When he gets older, he sees 
his mistake. 

In one respect the bad and the good are alike. They 
both have a reason for all they do. No crime was ever 
perpetrated without a reason, or even without some ex- 
cuse. 

What merit is there in doing what it is supposed no 
one ever did before ? 

It should not be forgotten that there is no universal 
justice, as there is no universal reason and no universal 
God. As a matter of fact, justice, reason, and even our 
God, is for us simply a local affair. Our idea of God 
differs from the God of all other people — and so our rea- 
son and ideas of justice and propriety also differ from 
their ideas. Morals also are purely a local affair. 

A thinking man stands amazed at what he considers 
the stupidity of even intelligent men. He cannot con- 

16 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



257 



ceive how it is possible for them not to see what he sees. 
He quite forgets how long it took and how great a 
struggle it required to enable him to see what he sees 
now. If he will only wait, he will eventually find that 
what he sees others can and will see likewise. 

It is characteristic of fools to think that they them- 
selves are wise and that the rest of mankind are the 
fools. So it is with crazy people. It is a rare thing that 
a man considers himself crazy. 

To be a debtor and not able to pay, in old Koman 
times, was a crime. To be a debtor if one is able to pay, 
ought to be a crime. 

Government is based mostly on fiction, and trials in 
court are made up largely of the same material. 

Education may or may not be a good thing. It all 
depends upon the kind of education. A bag may be 
stuffed with chaff and still weigh little. 

There is not much difference in the merits of people. 
If the poor were rich, they would do as the rich do. 

There are no unfounded thoughts. One thought is 
as true as another. 

The reason why men are so easily duped, is because 
they are so ready to believe what they do not under- 
stand. The more absurd and more monstrous a proposi- 
tion is, the more readily will it be accepted and believed. 
Swindlers understand this principle and constantly put 
it in practice. The more intelligence people come to 
have, the less are they inclined to believe the bare asser- 
tions of other people. This is particularly true of re- 
ligious questions. 

When we dislike people, especially if they do not re- 
semble ourselves in color, we affect to call them savages. 
That is simply a way we have. 

We are friendly enough to our family, our friends, 
our club. But why not make all the world our family, 
our friends, our club ? Then we should have no cause 



258 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



for contention with any one. Men do not contend with 
their families, their friends, their club. 

People who never think never change their belief ; 
people who think always do. Thinking implies new 
thoughts, and new thoughts imply a change in a man's 
creed. 

Let us cast aside worthless things, and thus save labor 
and pains. All ceremonies, signs and forms are worth- 
less — everything that is done merely for appearance or 
form's sake is worthless. 

Men will never cease to be slaves till they cease to be 
cowards and fools. 

Why should the common people fight the battles of 
their country as they do ? Whether their country wins 
or loses, they are sure to remain the under dog. 

People take delight in being doctored ; they seem to 
be fond of medicine. So it is with our system of re- 
ligion. Nobody gets cured, but everybody takes relig- 
ious treatment. Everybody prays and sacrifices, and 
hopes that these things may do some good, in the next 
world, if not in this. No efforts are put forth to cure 
people of sin, to prevent them from sinning, but all the 
efforts are spent in doctoring the sinful patient after the 
sin is committed. So it is also in affairs of state. But 
this is a seriously mistaken policy. 

If this book is not appreciated, it will not be the first 
that has been neglected. A world that is in a supine or 
comatose condition is not easily aroused. Nothing short 
of an earthquake is effective in such a direction, and 
earthquakes frequently overwhelm people before they 
are aroused. 

Violence never conquered any man. It may cause 
him some pain and suffering, but that does not change 
the heart. Violence never reaches the will. 

There are two sides to all questions, and no one can 
understand any one side without first having seen and 



i 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



259 



compared the other side. Things are not positively, but 
only relatively true. To get a clear idea of a structure, 
we must go around it, and after we have gone around it, 
we must go through it. If we did not go through it. we 
would never dream that it was hollow. 

Two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same 
time. Before a man gets a new idea into his head, he 
must get the old ideas out. 

One of the most difficult things in practice is to draw 
the line of distinction between a wise man and a fool. 
Even a fool knows many things ; and there are some 
things that even a wise man does not know. 

The New Dispensation is not so big a book as the 
Bible, and it has not so many authors, but its sentiments 
are purer, more humane and more practical, and as a 
book it is more reliable. 

It is a great deal better to be a big man in a little 
town than a little man in a large town. And it is a 
great deal better to be a good man than to be a great- 
man in any town, large or small. 

Praying may do very well for those who feel so in- 
clined, but hard work is usually more effective. 

Do not forget — nay, never forget — the power of kind 
words, kind actions, kind treatment at all times. Kind- 
ness is more powerful than armies. Kindness builds up, 
encourages, sustains, but armies do nothing but tear 
down and destroy. By destruction alone, armies mani- 
fest their power. 

No man thinks what he wills ; he thinks what he 
may. 

It is impossible for man to legitimatize rascality : no 
law-making body ever had such a power. 

A house to put God in ? Why, even this whole 
world is not big enough to put God in. It requires the 
universe to house him properly. A house to put God 
in ? How absurd, how heathenish, how idolatrous is 



260 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



that idea ! The Israelites considered a small box about 
the size of a traveling trunk big enough to carry God in. 

It is not practicable for one man to decide what is the 
duty of another man, unless one is the master and the 
other the slave. A free man has no duties, no obliga- 
tions. He is not bound in any way. 

How insignificant was Greece in size, and yet how 
grand in history ! Neither peoples nor countries count 
according to their bigness. 

A man cannot be a true Christian without some help 
— and yet the world gives him very little encourage- 
ment. 

To spread civilization, to improve mankind, and to 
Christianize the world, have been the excuses rendered 
for untold crimes. The first murder recorded in the 
Bible arose from a quarrel over sacrifices. 

It is a mistake to suppose that crime is inevitable, or 
that oppression, wrong and misery are inevitable. These 
things come from mismanagement and from an unsound 
basis of action. 

The ancients gave all honor and credit to their gods. 
But the moderns having no God, take all credit to them- 
selves. 

Knocking a man on the head does not improve his 
character in the least. But " a soft answer turneth away 
wrath." It makes a person feel better every way. 

Men pay their taxes as they hand over their pocket- 
books to the robber — because they must. 

Changing government is only changing masters, and 
it never improves matters for any great length of time, 
for masters are all very much alike. The best way is to 
dispense with government entirely. And indeed, why 
should not every man be permitted to do as he pleases ? 

Laws are made exclusively by masters for slaves. 
Freemen never want laws. 

Eegularity always comes from irregularity ; legitimacy 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



261 



comes from illegitimacy. Disorder is older and more 
natural than order. We have order in parks, but none 
in forests. Nature never observes the theory of regu- 
larity in anything that it builds ; no two growths were 
ever exactly alike. 

Patriotism consists in sacrificing your own life to save 
that of some one else. Indeed, virtue generally consists 
in making sacrifices for the benefit of other people. A 
virtuous man is one who does more than is required of 
him : he is a man who, instead of following his own 
wishes, makes a practice of observing the wishes of 
others. 

Final decline or overthrow, for every nation, as well 
as for every individual, is as certain to come as death 
itself. There never was a man that did not have to be 
buried at last ; there never was a people that did not in 
the end have to give place to some other people. 

Of all the things in the world the one that never pays, 
is the effort to give people new ideas. ISTo one cares to 
be bothered with such matters. 

It is all of life to live. Or is there something of life 
besides living ? 

What a man believes in and acts upon, that is his re- 
ligion ; and not simply what may be found in his Bible 
or prayer book. 

ISTo one would ask for recompense, except one who 
had done some service for another. But those who 
serve others for pay are servants. A free man does not 
ask compensation for what he has done. 

Combinations are always dangerous. Those who com- 
bine always have different interests, and this fact alone 
breeds trouble and discord. 

There is no merit in pity ; there is no efficacy in pity. 
Pity is simply a matter of pride. Pity never helped any 
man. If we did not feel that we were better or luckier 
or richer than other people, we would not pity them. 



262 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



We do not pity people who are above us ; we pity those 
who are below us. In other words, we pity only those 
who are not as well off as we^are. We pity those who 
are going down in a lost vessel, provided we are not 
among; the number. 

What people believe and think is everything. If you 
can only give people new thoughts and a new belief, you 
will change their whole character. That is the only 
way to regenerate men. 

There is no man with an unchangeable character — the 
same yesterday and to-day. There never was such a 
man. A breath of air affects people, and a blow on the 
head may change one's whole individuality. A man's 
conceived interests make him see things in a new light. 

How many lives is a gold mine worth ? How many 
lives is a diamond mine worth ? Let those nations reply 
who have gone to war for these things and have had the 
experience. 

Every state is a gigantic trust with a few men at the 
head to manage affairs and reap the harvest. The peo- 
ple earn the money and pay the bills. A state is a 
monopoly run by a few shrewd and usually unscrupulous 
fellows, for their own personal benefit. We do not be- 
lieve that any God ever had anything to do with such a 
contrivance as a state. 

There can be no liberty under a state, for there can be 
no state without a master. Where there are masters, 
there is no liberty. 

Hardest of all hard things it is, to get a new idea into 
a man's head. His whole nature rebels against the en- 
trance of such an intruder. 

"Consistency, thou art a jewel." That is indeed so. 
But is there any consistency in the Bible? 

In war, to lie, cheat, deceive, is called strategy. Napo- 
leon, one of the most unconscionable liars this world has 
yet produced, was one of the most renowned strategists. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



263 



Circumstances alter cases. If any man should do such 
tilings in private life, he would be regarded as a con- 
summate scoundrel. 

The destruction that finally overtook republican Eome 
was the direct result of her own victories. Success in 
one direction often opens the road to ruin in another 
direction. It is hard to distinguish between an apparent 
victory and a real defeat. 

As a rule no people lose their liberty save those 
who ought to lose it. They are indolent or obdurate, or 
both ; they are careless of the future and willing to be 
slaves. Submission is wholly a matter of will, and real 
subjugation does not enter into the problem. 

Success in government is generally achieved by artful 
means, by seeming to do one thing while something dif- 
ferent is accomplished. A man may be an absolute 
master and still go by some other name. It was notably 
so in the case of both Caesar and Augustus. Dissimula- 
tion is akin to rascality, but it is a powerful instrument 
in the hands of the wicked. 

Work should always prove a pleasure, rather than a 
burden. Labor brings its harvest — ease never does. 
Without labor, nothing is ever accomplished. Enforced 
labor is alone oppressive. 

Before the world can be expected to make any im- 
provement in morals, we must have better teachers. 
Moreover, we must have a new Bible. 

What wild dreams and strange conceptions men have 
of Heaven and Hell ! They must be dreams, for what 
could man know of either ? They must be dreams, pure 
dreams, for no two peoples and no two men have the 
same conceptions of these uncertain states of existence. 
Our belief is founded on the Bible, but on what is the 
Bible founded ? 

A cool head and a stout heart will carry a man safely 
through any ordinary undertaking. 



264: 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Like the children of Israel in search of the promised 
land, the people of America have been wandering for 
long years in search of a religion. They have not found 
it yet. 

A bloodthirsty God makes a bloodthirsty people. 
Children are apt to follow in the footsteps of their father. 

Nothing can be proved ; at best proof is merely prob- 
ability, and sometimes even that is remote. 

No man can have two masters ; one will be master 
and the other not, or one will be master and the other a 
subordinate. One governor under another is always a 
vassal. It is so in affairs of state. 

How foolish it is for a man to risk his life on the mere 
chance of winning a bronze medal that he can never use. 

No good claim was ever founded on either numbers or 
strength. 

The tricks, formalities and absurd conditions that ap- 
pertain to law are abominable. Their only service is to 
hamper and deceive the ignorant. 

When killing becomes a custom, it is called war; 
when it is exceptional, it goes by the name of murder. 
But the killing is the same in both cases. 

If you do nothing, you accomplish nothing. With- 
out labor, you can have no success, no triumphs. 

A man's creed does make a great difference in his his- 
tory. But there are good and bad men under all creeds, 
as there are good and bad things in all creeds. 

Grood health is a powerful factor; and a clear con- 
science is a strong support. 

The color of a man's face does not seem to have much 
to do with either his head or his heart. A white man 
may have a black heart, and vice versa. 

As a general thing people are fond of listening to the 
truth, but unfortunately there are few who care to speak 
it themselves. They are afraid of wounding other peo- 
ple's feelings, and still more are they afraid of losing a 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



265 



little patronage. Timidity is the ruling vice of the 
world. 

Liberty and mastery are always incompatible. One 
who has a master is necessarily a slave, and a slave, can 
have no liberty. So far as he has liberty, he is not a 
slave. 

There is nothing that is really new. Everything that 
we see is merely a modification of what preceded it. 
The plow we use to-day is simply an improvement on 
the plow of 4,000 years ago. The firearms we nse now 
differ from the bow and arrow only in the power nsed. 
The bullet takes the place of the arrow, or perhaps of 
the stone in the sling. The pillars or columns that adorn 
our edifices now are merely new forms of the wooden 
posts or columns used in Persia and India thousands of 
years ago. 

Too many men live on hopes that are never realized, 
and therefore they frequently go to bed hungry. 

There is only one agency that appears to have any 
real power over either men or animals, and that is kind- 
ness — a kind word, a kind action, kind treatment. 

Some people do not want masters of any kind, no 
matter how gentle or obliging they may be. Even a 
kind master is after all a master, and that is what people 
object to. Kindness should not be forced upon people ; 
a medicine may be good and still not wanted. 

Surely all men are liars. Of course they are. Any 
man will dissemble, if he sees sufficient inducement. 
Only some men lie more readily than others. 

Obedience is not something that can be compelled ; 
nothing can be compelled ; punishment is merely torture, 
and never results in compulsion. Under all circum- 
stances people do as they choose at last. If they do not 
choose, of course they would not do anything. 

The world makes a great mistake in supposing that 
evil is necessary, that crime is necessary, that wrong is 



266 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



necessary, or that slavery and oppression are necessary. 
None of these things are necessary in any proper sense. 
Who shall decide what is necessary ? 

"What a man believes to be just and proper, that is 
and ought to be his religion. No man needs any re- 
ligion save correct ideas of fairness and propriety. 

Strength is always a relative term. Even a very weak 
man may be stronger than his adversary, who may be 
weaker still. Men triumph more frequently through the 
weakness of those who oppose them than because of 
their own strength. 

The ills of the poor are due largely to their own ex- 
travagance and mismanagement. They are too anxious 
to live like other folks. In America particularly they 
never study how to make ends meet, or how to handle a 
little money so as to supply many needs. 

It is a great mistake to dignify little things with an 
importance that does not belong to them. 

It is evident that God never intended that man should 
have a master, or he would have given him one in the 
first place. A real master would be so far above com- 
mon men that there could be no question about his title 
and mission. 

If people have no religion, they ought to know that 
they have none ; and if they do not believe in God, they 
ought to realize that fact. 

The Bible teaches the doctrine of hate and revenge 
with a bitterness that never has been equaled in any 
other book. And we call this book the Holy Scriptures ! 

"Speak not in the ears of a fool," because it is so 
much breath wasted. It makes the fool angry and does 
no good in any way. 

Men who move with crowds are never moved by rea- 
son — certainly not by their own reason. The impulse 
that moves them is largely a matter of contagion. 

To go off to war is simply to offer one's self as a sacri- 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



267 



fice in order to save other people. The most that a man 
can get by the venture is a medal or a vote of thanks, or 
perhaps a chance to leave his bones to bleach in some 
distant land. 

No religion is worth considering that does not make 
men more honest and more humane than before. 

The older a man grows, the more certain he becomes 
that nothing is certain. 

Nothing is necessary that could be avoided. But evil- 
doing can be avoided, or it would not be evil-doing. 
Hence evil-doing is never necessary. 

Back of all our miseries is the odious doctrine of sacri- 
fice. We are continually urged to do something for 
others who are too proud or too indolent to do anything 
for themselves. Pay taxes to help others, pay tribute, 
protect people, labor for others, and thus make yourself 
a slave for those who will not so much as thank you. 
The whole doctrine of sacrifice in all its forms and rami- 
fications is an abomination in the land. 

No man can do in twenty years what requires fifty 
years to accomplish ; and so it makes a vast difference 
with a man whether he dies young or lives to old age. 
It is a mistake to undertake to dispense with the older 
men. 

Man makes himself believe that many things are nec- 
essary which are not. By what process of reasoning 
does he come to the conclusion that it is ever necessary 
to injure his fellow man under any circumstances? 

It is rather late in the day, it is inopportune, to claim 
that conquest gives rights. Conquest is itself wrong, 
always wrong. A man may be as big as Goliah and as 
powerful as Sampson, and still be no worthier than a 
pigmy. Goodness and greatness are not things that de- 
pend either upon size, numbers or strength. If great- 
ness depended upon size and strength, the greatest of 
men could not be compared with either the elephant or 



268 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



the hippopotamus. Even the ordinary ass is stronger 
than an ordinary man, thongh perhaps not so good look- 
ing. 

Do not mind little things. We have too much trouble 
over things 'that are really of no account. Half the 
quarrels of the world are over trifles. 

A man is not stronger or better simply because he is 
more widely known. The rose that blushes unseen may 
be as beautiful as any other rose. It is well known that 
large towns grow at the expense of the smaller ones ; the 
great seas would soon dry up, if not fed by the streams 
that flow into them from the mountains. And it is a 
fact that plenty of great men have never lived in a great 
city. Does that make any difference in their real 
worth ? 

There is not much difference in rascals, whether in 
higher or lower life. There are more rascals doing what 
is called a legitimate business than there are to be found 
in our jails and prisons. 

The Bible turns a man's thoughts wholly upon the 
enormity of his sins, and in that way he forgets the 
wrongs that he endures daily at the hands of his op- 
pressors. The sinner is hypnotized by fear of punish- 
ment hereafter. 

Law binds those only who were bound already — it 
binds slaves. 

Laws alone make things illegitimate. If we had no 
laws, we would hear nothing about either legitimacy or 
illegitimacy. 

Progress is downward as well as upward ; and when 
there is progress upward at first, there is progress down- 
ward at last. No matter how high a balloon ascends, it 
must come down some time or other. 

Should we expect the slave to be better than his 
master? Should a man be better than his God? But 
how do we find our God pictured in the Bible? In 



LIVING- THOUGHTS. 



269 



many cases we find (rod and the Devil pictured so nearly 
alike that we cannot distinguish one from the other. 

Two great personages at least had no schooling and 
never went to college — Christ and Mahomet. Even Joe 
Smith had no learning. 

Strength, like other things, is a relative matter ; some 
are strong only so far as their adversaries are weak. We 
see this especially in elections. Every man is weak 
when he encounters some one stronger than himself. 

"The end justifies the means." That is what the 
church said. It is also what robbers, pirates and crimi- 
nals say to justify their action. As a matter of fact, the 
end never justifies anything. 

What a man says and what he writes are two different 
matters. What a man writes is so much proof against 
him. Men who are judicious are extremely careful what 
they put on paper. That a man is your friend to-day, 
is no proof that he will not be your enemy to-morrow. 

No man can be compelled. No man can be subdued, 
unless he consents to his subjugation. Killing people 
does not subdue them, nor does punishing them have 
that result. 

Why do men crowd into the cities? Any one can 
perceive that city life is an unnatural and unhealthful, 
as well as a demoralizing, state of existence. Of course 
there are plenty of strong men in cities, but that is be- 
cause they come from a vigorous stock. It must be 
evident to all that city life tends steadily downward, and 
never upward. In the cities everything is conducted on 
the high pressure plan ; the people do not eat naturally, 
sleep naturally, act naturally, or live naturally. And in 
the end very few of them die what might properly be 
called a natural death. 

To avenge an injury is one thing, and to resent an 
injury is another. We might resent an injury, but we 
should not avenge one. And after all, it is well to bear 



270 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



in mind that those who injure ns " know not what they 
do." 

In union there is strength — but not always. 

The Bible teaches dependence on God's help ; the 
New Dispensation teaches dependence upon self-help. 

People usually fail to connect their doctrines with the 
consequences they involve. 

Nothing is necessary that may be avoided. Hence 
crime, sorrow, suffering and sin are not necessary. 
Those things are largely the result of what is called 
civilization, and savages know far less of them than the 
civilized do. 

There are many sources to which we may trace the 
slavery of mankind, but the most productive of all may 
be found in per cents, and profits. Every man who pays 
per cents, to another simply hands over so much tribute, 
precisely as the vassal pays tribute to his lord and 
master. It is these per cents. — rents, interest and profits 
— that are consuming the life of the middle classes of 
this country ; and sooner or later these classes must 
disappear, leaving only the very rich and the very poor 
to continue the straggle. Thousands, tens of thousands, 
hundreds of thousands, of families in this country ex- 
haust all their energies in simply adding to the wealth of 
other people. It takes all they can earn and save from 
year to year to pay the rent of their houses or the interest 
on their mortgages. They are simply the slaves of the 
landholder and money-lender. Such a state of things 
should not be allowed to continue. No man should be 
compelled to pay either rent, interest, taxes or tribute to 
any man. These are the great evils that follow in the 
train of civilization, and they are the greatest curse to 
which man is subject. 

The only one who actually speaks by authority is the 
one who speaks what he knows — or, in other words, who 
speaks the truth. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



271 



It has been decided by competent authority that in 
this state a man may have three wives at the same time, 
if he only obeys the law. Indeed, a man may do any- 
thing he likes, if he only obeys the law ; all sin and 
crime consist exclusively in disobeying the law. And 
what a howl we raise against the Mormons ! There are 
hypocrites and hypocrites in this world. They do not 
object to a man's having as many concubines as he likes, 
but if he happens to marry one of them, while he has a 
wife living, he will get himself into trouble — simply be- 
cause he has transgressed the law. 

Nothing is preached so strongly and so persistently in 
the Bible as the doctrine of fear. " The Lord taketh 
pleasure in them that fear him." It is so with all rulers 
and masters. 

No man can go beyond himself. He appreciates what 
is in himself and no more. So, to appreciate humor, a 
man must himself be humorous. 

The only ideas that we delight to find in books are 
our own ideas. We can understand no others. If we 
have no ideas of our own, we can never acquire any ; 
certainly we can never understand any. 

A fool is pitied, but a conceited person is despised. 
A fool is usually born so, but conceit is a matter of edu- 
cation. There are many kinds of conceit. There is 
conceit of riches, conceit of family, conceit of country, 
conceit of education, and finally city conceit, which is 
the worst of all. City people are apt to imagine that 
there never was any one quite so wise, quite so nice, or 
quite so handsome as they themselves are ; and when 
city people get an idea into their heads it is hard re- 
moving it. 

The triumphs of peace may be glorious, but the 
triumphs of war are never so. Murder and rapine can- 
not be glorious under any circumstances. 

What is right, what is just, what is proper, what is 



J 



272 THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

true? Simply what men think is right and just and 
proper and true. It is wholly a matter of opinion, and 
that is the reason why no two men agree on these points. 
Nothing is more variable than men's notions of right 
and propriety, and yet people seem to imagine that there 
is some fixed standard by which right and propriety are 
measured, some strict rule or law by which the truth is 
to be determined. 

To make our neighbors better, we have only to think 
better of them. 

How would men do if they had no religion, or if what 
little they had existed only in the rudimentary form ? 
They would do just as men do now. There are plenty 
of intelligent and sensible men who have no religion, 
and yet they act and appear very much like other folks. 
They sleep well and they have good appetites. 

If we have money, it is bad, since it is hard to retain ; 
and if we have none, it is even worse, for without money 
it is not easy to live. And so if we have work, it 
fatigues us ; and if we do not have it, that is also fatigu- 
ing. It is bad either way. 

Many people imagine that because they do not see 
beauties, none exist. They never make allowance for 
defect of vision on their own part. 

Order may be Heaven's first law. But where is it 
exemplified? There is very little harmony or regu- 
larity in nature. Everything is unique. In no case do 
we find two eyes, or two ears, or two arms that are ex- 
actly alike. The planets never move in their orbits with 
anything like regularity ; they are affected by thousands 
of conflicting forces that would not permit them to move 
with regularity. Their paths this year are not exactly 
the same as those of last year. The rule of nature is not 
order, not regularity, or even similarity, but rather the 
reverse. 

The Bible teaches that man is only a worm. It humil- 

17 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



273 



iates him, depresses him, depreciates him, enslaves him. 
The New Dispensation teaches a different doctrine. It 
elevates and ennobles man. It makes him as great as 
God and as good as the angels. It must be remembered, 
that there are many things that Grod cannot do, even, 
with all his greatness ; and as to angels, there are bad 
angels as well as good ones. 

We are taught to "love our neighbors." But why 
not broaden and deepen our love, and let it extend to all 
mankind ? Besides, love implies hate ; if we love some 
we must hate others. Why not love the whole animal 
creation, and even nature itself ? That would be sensi- 
ble love. If we loved all in general, we should love 
nothing in particular, and that is the only proper love 
for man to have. 

The Christian people of the present day, like the Ko- 
mans two thousand years ago, are fond of tragedy. 
Had it not been for the tragedy on Mount Calvary we 
should never have had the Christian religion. Had 
Christ died a natural death, his name would never have 
been mentioned in history. It is blood alone that 
really impresses people — blood and suffering. 

The New Dispensation does not war with the past ; it 
has nothing to do with the past. It looks forward to the 
future, and deals with the present only. 

The rack of torture has been dispensed with, but we 
still retain the whip and cudgel, because of their con- 
venience. It is a great satisfaction for a person to use 
these instruments, on others, when he does not happen 
to feel in good humor. 

Esteem is more desirable than love. Love is blind, it 
is simply an affection. But esteem is supposed to be 
based on merit. We sometimes love people who do not 
deserve our esteem, and we often esteem people that we 
do not love. 

The missionary is sent abroad to open the road so that 



274 THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

other people can make money. It may not appear so on 
paper, but that is really the scheme. If it were not for 
prospective commerce, it is not probable that we should 
send many missionaries abroad. If the simple object 
were to save souls, these could be found nearer home 
and with much less trouble. 

As a rule it is not a wise thing either to give or re- 
ceive presents. There is always a string to the gift, as 
Admiral Dewey found to his sorrow. It might not be 
amiss to keep in mind the story of the Trojan horse. 

There is a foundation for every thought; there is a 
foundation even for dreams. Thoughts have a source, 
and so have dreams. So there is a foundation for belief 
in immortality. Men do live after death, but their 
identity is lost. The}^ have gone to join the universal 
host and they have ceased to be individuals. 

This world is good or bad very much as we make it. 
It often happens that the wickedness that we see is a re- 
flection from our own hearts. If we were better our- 
selves, things would appear better. Wicked people al- 
ways complain, and nothing satisfies them. 

Some people have a propensity for lying and others 
for stealing. Almost every one has a propensity for 
something. If it were not for propensities, men would 
never do anything. 

The religion that our Bible teaches is a religion not 
only of humiliation, but of suffering and sorrow. Its 
doctrines seem to have been intended mainly for the 
weak, the poor, the unfortunate and the enslaved. The 
scriptures, like human enactments, are designed only for 
a portion of the people. 

Pity is a cheap article that comes chiefly from pride. 
If people did not feel that they were better off than we 
are, they would not pity us. They would want the pity 
themselves. Independent men do not want pity — they 
merely want justice. Even sympathy is something not 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



275 



to be encouraged. Sympathy doubles the sorrows of the 
civilized world. The uncivilized have but little sym- 
pathy. 

If people really believed the Bible, they would follow 
its precepts, but they do not. If they thought it was the 
word of Grod, they would treat it as a holy book, but 
they do not. Every word of the Bible is inspired, or 
none is inspired. But how much of this book do we 
ignore ! Or, rather, how little of it do we have any re- 
gard for? We even assume to discuss the matter with 
God — that we like, and this we do not, this we will 
accept, and that we reject ! 

Love and hate somehow seem to go together. There 
is more love and more hate in the Bible than in any 
other book that ever was printed. 

We have no concern about things of which we know 
nothing. They are for us as if they did not exist. Not 
what others know, but what we know, concerns us. 

People often imagine that they are making progress, 
when they are merely on the high road to destruction. 

A defeat proves nothing, except that the defeated 
party failed to win. It often happens that people who 
are beaten live to fight another day. The Germans were 
overwhelmingly defeated by the first Napoleon, but they 
came out ahead in their contest with Napoleon the 
Third. 

The New Dispensation is one book that was prepared 
and published without any regard as to what people 
might think or say of it. There was but one object in 
view — the truth. 

When we happen to meet Death on the way, we affect 
to be surprised, and yet we knew that we had been 
traveling in the direction of Death from the day we left 
the cradle. 

It is doubtless a fact that "The wages of sin is death." 
But how shall the question be settled as to what con- 



276 



THE NEW DISPENSATION". 



stitutes sin ? On that question no two men agree, and 
yet it must be settled by men, if it is ever settled at all. 

There is a great deal of fool-work in this world. So, 
we judge there must be fools somewhere. 

What is glory ? It is the privilege of being praised 
and petted while living, and forgotten when dead. 

Evil is many-sided; it is as we look at it. Even crime 
is only as we name it. Thieving and robbery are meri- 
torious among some people. The civilized condemn 
murder in private life, but they deem it glorious in war. 
Evil is intangible, indeterminate. It lies solely in our 
conceptions, where, indeed, everything else will be found. 

Defect of vision is a mental as well as a physical weak- 
ness. There are thousands of things to be seen that 
people never notice. Even when things are before their 
eyes, they fail to observe them. It does not follow that 
because people do not see beauties, no beauties exist. 

We worrv too much over things that we consider 
wicked or wrong — we worry too much any way. If we 
did not give wrongs so much attention, we would not 
encounter so many of them. 

There is no question more important to man than how 
to live — and yet there is none to which less attention is 
usually given. 

" Necessary " is a mistaken and much-abused term. 
It is rare that things are necessary when people imagine 
they are. When men wish to do wrong, they pretend 
that the wrong is necessary. But wrongs are never 
necessary. 

People are not deprived of their liberty by force, as is 
commonly supposed. They sell it, or lose it by sheer 
neglect or carelessness. The Romans bartered their 
liberties for free lunches and abundant games. 

Is it not rather late in the history of this world for 
people to be afraid to sing on Sunday, to shave on Sun- 
day, to travel on Sunday, or to do any useful or important 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



277 



work on that day, because it is supposed to be the Lord's 
day ! If people, blessed with all the intelligence of the 
present age, can believe in the sacredness of the Sabbath, 
it would seem that they might be induced to believe 
almost anything if it happened to be absurd. 

What sense or propriety is there in wasting either 
time or thought on things that we know absolutely 
nothing about? There may be a man in the moon — 
there may be a thousand or a million of men there — but 
we do not know that there are, and we have no means 
of knowing that there are. So, there may be a here- 
after, there may be a heaven or hell, or both, but we do 
not know that there is, or that there will be, any such 
state, and we have not a single fact on which to base 
such a conclusion. Then, why should we waste time in 
talking or thinking about these matters ? 

Too many commentators, interpreters and editors have 
been at work upon our Holy Bible. It has been com- 
mented on so long and so persistently, and there have 
been so many amplifications, explanations, qualifications 
and emendations that nothing is now left of the original 
book but the leaves and the cover. As a book of life 
for men, it has lost its value. For fifteen or more cen- 
turies men, ordinary men, have been putting patches on 
the Scriptures, until now there is nothing left but 
patches. 

Is it the fair thing to punish a man simply because we 
are uncertain whether he is guilty or not ? It is often 
done. The Christian world seems to believe that it is 
better to punish ten innocent men than to run the chance 
of letting one guilty man escape. 

Reverence ! What need of reverence, what right to 
demand reverence from others ? Eeverence comes from 
slavery. The slave reverences his master because he 
has been taught that his master is a much better man 
than himself. But if the Christian doctrine is true that 



278 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



all men are equals, at least in standing before Grod, why 
should one man reverence another man ? Or why should 
he reverence any being ? There is nothing sacred in 
this world to man. Eoman children reverenced their 
fathers, and well they might, for Eoman fathers owned 
their children as long as they lived. 

Even justice is one-sided; what is just for one man 
is not necessarily just for every other man. 

The worst forms of slavery are to be found in all cases 
where men are kejDt in confinement under a master. 
Noticeably is this the case in prisons and houses of con- 
finement of all kinds. Worse than all is the treatment 
of sailors at sea. They often find themselves in the 
hands of monsters, and there is no escape for them 

This world will never improve until nations and in- 
dividuals follow one and the same code of morals. As 
it is, the codes of the two differ materially, and if in- 
dividuals should be guilty of the same acts of rascality 
and savagery that nations commit, they would be called 
either knaves or brutes. Individuals have improved 
somewhat in two thousand years, but nations have not. 
People seem to be incapable of appreciating the fact that 
the character of crime is not affected in the least by the 
number of the perpetrators, and that nations can be guilty 
of murder, piracy, robbery or other crimes just as well as 
two or a dozen men can. 

By what reasoning do people arrive at the conclu- 
sion that because others do wrong, they may also do 
wrong ; or that because a person steals from them they 
have a right to steal from him? The true doctrine is 
that we should do right by all men, at all times, under 
all circumstances, and no matter what others do or leave 
undone. 

The greatest mistake that people ever make, is when 
they marry simply because they love. Love is no guide 
at all; common sense and observation can alone be 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



279 



trusted. Love is always infatuation, and that is uni- 
formly blind. 

If we bought only what we needed, paid little atten- 
tion to fashion and used articles till they were worn out, 
it would require but a moderate amount of labor to sup- 
port any family. A large share of what is ordinarily 
earned is used in trying to keep up appearances and do 
as other folks do. 

It is a poor practice to go around the world enslaving 
people, simply because we think it will be good for 
them. 

The state is very kind to people who are matrimo- 
nially inclined. It ratifies the contract when they get 
ready to marry ; and if they tire of each other socially 
and wish to make another match, it promptly unties the 
knot. 

It is a good idea to follow customs, provided they are 
good customs — but many are not. A good custom for 
one century may not be a good custom for another. 

Our people are too read}" and willing to divide with 
robbers. They forget that the receiver of stolen property 
is quite as bad as the thief. There can be no doubt that 
if Capt, Kick! had been so thoughtful as to distribute his 
treasures among his countrymen before he died, he 
would be known to-day as a gentleman and a Christian, 
rather than a pirate. How ready we are to praise the 
millionaire who gives a small portion of his immense ac- 
cumulations for what is called philanthropic purposes ! 
AYe never inquire a word about the methods he pursued 
in securing his fortune ; but we might know that he 
never made it by his own labor. Ko man ever made a 
million, or a twentieth part of a million, in any. such 
way. 

The author of this work is very thankful to think that 
no one has yet, to his knowledge, called him either crazy 
or a crank. It has been the fate of almost every man 



280 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



who had an original idea to be called either one or the 
other. If a man gets along in this world for any con- 
siderable time without being called some disagreeable 
name, he can make up his mind that he has never done 
much that has any real merit or value. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that it is not possible 
to live in this world, at this day, and be an honest man 
and a gentleman. There never was a time before when 
it was so practicable and so desirable as it is now, and 
never a time when such men were in better demand. 
Everybody likes to meet such people, and deal with such 
people, even though he does not come up to the standard 
himself. 

Too many men are executed or imprisoned on the 
evidence of mere probabilities. It is a shameful practice 
too well followed to hang and imprison men, either with 
or without evidence. 

How could people get along without religion? That 
question is easily answered. Notice how people do get 
along without religion at the present time. Certainly 
one-half, probably three-fourths, and possibly nine-tenths 
of all the people in this country have no fear of Grod, no 
dread of the Devil, and little regard for the Bible ; and 
therefore it must be said that they have no religion 

People should avoid doing wrong, not because they 
are afraid of offending some deity, or wounding some- 
body's feelings, but because it is for their own personal in- 
terest to do right, and it corresponds with their own per- 
sonal convictions. The world favors a man who wishes 
to do right, and it is opposed to a man who insists upon 
doing wrong. The community in which a man lives 
always determines his status as a citizen. 

In a country like ours where everything is done so 
rapidly, little that is done is really done wisely or well. 
This is particularly the fact in matters pertaining to 
education. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



281 



The past is entirely outside of our domain and our 
control. Of the future we are, and we must remain, un- 
certain. Let us therefore concentrate our thoughts and 
energies upon the present ; the future will take care of 
itself. By doing our duty to-day, we shall be more fully 
prepared for the wants of to-morrow. 

The ancients built for the gods ; we of to-day build 
only for man. We seem to have forgotten that archi- 
tecture, like music, painting and sculpture, was originally 
a religious or sacred art. But men now are everywhere 
forgetting and ignoring God, and that fact may be no- 
ticed in architecture as elsewhere. It would be impossi- 
ble to-day to build even one great cathedral like those of 
the Middle Ages. The people would not make the 
necessary sacrifices. Those old cathedrals were built 
several hundred years ago, when men really worshiped 
God and believed both in heaven and the Bible. Those 
days have gone by. 

People are in error in supposing that there is a fixed 
or unchangeable character in men. There is Washing- 
ton, for example. The Washington of the Eevolution, 
the Washington after the Eevolution, the Washington 
after death, the Washington of fifty years ago and the 
Washington of to-day, are so many different pictures of 
one and the same man, and they are very much unlike. 
Men for us are solely what we conceive them to be. We 
do not know men ; we only have our conceptions of 
them. 

Grace, Salvation, Eedemption are terms which the 
younger generation do not understand. They are getting 
to be more or less obsolete, in the scripture sense, and it 
is just as well. 

The first step towards inducing a man to get into the 
right path is to convince him that he is in the wrong 
path. No man will change his methods so long as he 
believes himself to be right. 



282 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



A great amount of harm comes from talking too much, 
and especially from saying what had better be left un- 
said. "He that hath knowledge spareth his words." — 
Prov. 17:27. "A fool uttereth all his mind; but a wise 
man keepeth it in till afterwards." — Prov. 29:11. 

When the time comes, as it some time will come, that 
every man shall see that his best interests lie in caring 
only for his own affairs, then peace and happiness will 
prevail throughout the world. All our troubles arise 
from meddling in some way and under some pretence 
with the affairs of other people. 

Never sign a pledge. If you cannot govern yourself 
without being bound by a pledge, you might better put 
yourself into the hands of some one who would engage 
to take care of you 

Great occasions produce great men ; and nothing but 
great occasions can produce great men. When nothing 
great is to be done there is no opportunity for greatness 
to exert itself. 

In our social intercourse, we do not differ materially 
from the Chinese. We do not tell exactly the same lies 
that they do, but we tell as many. Social science, or 
social art, is made up chiefly of lies, tricks and deception. 
It is the aim of every one to appear to be a bigger and 
better man than he really is. The most artful hypocrite 
is one that shines in society most conspicuously. But a 
conventional lie is no better than any other lie. An 
honest man will tell the truth at all times, even auto- 
matically and without effort. 

Eome lost her liberties under the Caesars by their pre- 
tending to do one thing while they really did another — 
in other words, by their artfully deceiving the people. 
So people always lose their liberties. They never know- 
ingly sell themselves outright. Dissimulation is a 
powerful factor in the subjugation of a people. 

The people of the present day sacrifice too much, and 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



283 



they worship too many gods — more gods than were ever 
known in old Koman times. They worship not only the 
God of the universe, but scores of minor gods — the god 
of fashion, the god of wealth, the god of war, the god of 
love, the god of revenge, the god of pleasure. Such 
sacrifices and such worship imply an incalculable amount 
of time and material wasted. 

What is called strategy in war goes by the name of 
villainy in private life. 

Ten thousand things are charged to God that God is 
not responsible for. When people wish to commit some 
base crime, they do it in the name of God and pretend 
that he ordered it ! 

It is quite possible to prove the truth of any lie, when 
people are willing and anxious to believe what is told 
them. What has been more clearly demonstrated than 
the existence of heaven, of hell, of God, the Devil, 
witches and demons ? Nothing was ever supported by 
stronger evidence than the existence of these things, or 
these beings, and yet to-day it is pretty generally agreed 
that no evidence can be adduced, to prove the existence 
of any one of them. Proof lies wholly in people's 
minds. 

It is not well to make an effort to coax any one. It 
spoils him ; it gives him an exalted opinion of his own 
importance. 

Great attention was paid to the study and practice of 
music among the ancient Egyptians ; and it was deemed 
highly important among the Jews. In Greece all people 
learned music. Why should so little attention be given 
to the study of music in this country ? And there is 
dancing. Why should that be confined to a few limited 
circles ? 

One of the most common amusements of men, and of 
nations as well, is to blacken the character of those that 
they do not happen to like. But the practice at best is 



284 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



vile and disgraceful. If you cannot speak well of a 
man, say nothing. 

Civilization is a disease ; and what nations uniformly 
die of is too much civilization. If people were content 
to live a simple and honest country life, they would live 
on as a group for an indefinite time. Cities and states 
reach a certain period of splendor and then steadily de- 
cline and decay. They are like a poor consumptive 
patient who is in the last stages of the disease. Civiliza- 
tion, with all its vices and corruption, it will be remem- 
bered, ruined Babylon, Nineveh and Persepolis. It was 
the cause of the overthrow of Athens, Rome, Carthage, 
Venice ; and Constantinople is going steadily in the 
same direction. Civilization must in time bring the ruin 
of France and Germany, and eventually of England. 
America, with the simple habits of her revolutionary 
forefathers, might have continued to exist for thousands 
of years ; but as it is, its career will doubtless be run in 
a few hundred years. With the increasing means of 
ready communication between nations, civilization, cul- 
ture so called, makes more rapid progress, and hence na- 
tional decline is more rapid and more certain than 
formerly. 

Young men waste time, muscle and money in trying 
to become athletes, as if the world needed giants. But 
the most useless and out-of-place creature in all this 
world is a giant. There is no place to put him and 
nothing for him to do. Even the beds he sleeps in are 
too short. He cannot find a hat or a pair of trousers to 
fit him. He eats more than he is worth, and he is in the 
way of people generally. He is simply a monster. 
With the dwarf it is somewhat different — he can be 
tucked away anywhere. However, the dwarf, too, is a 
monstrosity. What the world wants is the average 
man, with good health, earnestness and vigor, and with 
common sense to guide him in all that he undertakes. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



285 



Athens fell under the weight of its own sins — and so 
has every city and every state fallen at last. Rome, 
Carthage, Poland and Ireland are other examples. 

It is rare that even the wisest of men act sensibly and 
rationally during any considerable portion of their lives. 
Thinking requires effort, and without thinking people 
cannot act rationally. 

Corruption, venality and wickedness lead people into 
dissensions. Dissensions finally weaken nations and 
leave them a prey to some stronger and better race. 
Wicked communities find no allies upon which they can 
rely. No one is inclined even to extend sympathy to 
them. Hence, they ultimately fall. But brave and 
honest men always have friends and sympathizers. 
Rome did not fall when it was strong and vigorous, but 
when it became reduced by its own crimes. So it is al- 
ways. Men are weakened not by nature, but by their 
own follies and transgressions. 

A man is often your enemy, yet he does not care to 
have you know the fact. Keep quiet, and his feelings 
may change ; but let him learn that you know that he 
is opposed to you, and he will be more violent in his 
hatred than ever. He realizes that he has been dis- 
covered. 

It should not be forgotten that a man may be your 
enemy, and still not be necessarily a bad man. You are 
his enemy also, it must be remembered, and are you 
therefore a bad man ? 

How villainous it is to shoot a man who is trying to 
escape, simply because he is supposed to be, or assumed 
to be, a criminal ! Strange it is, that at the close of the 
nineteenth century, with Christ's teachings before us all 
this time, we should consider it a crime for any man to 
endeavor to regain his freedom. 

It is a fact that there are no men and no things that 
are better than others ; it is also a fact that no men 



286 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



and no things are actually valueless or good for nothing. 
Nature does no work in vain. 

No, all men are not equal in every sense. They are 
not equal in size, weight, brains, or social position. But 
they are all equally men before Heaven, and therefore 
they are entitled to all the rights of men. 

The most substantial and most satisfactory thing to 
any man is a thought which he has mastered and made a 
part of himself. That and that alone is truth, and for 
the ordinary man, truth is everything. 

Our notions of the connexion of things are the product 
wholly of our imagination. If things were actually con- 
nected, they would not be two things but one thing. 
Things may lead to other things, or introduce them, and 
still be independent. Even the parent and offspring are 
as distinct as any two objects. 

Who shall dictate the terms and conditions on which 
an author s book shall be received ? Has not the author 
himself a good deal to say about such a matter ? Should 
he not know as much about the worth of his books as 
those who never read them, or as those who perhaps may 
have read them but could not understand them ? There 
is a law for almost everything, but none to compel peo- 
ple to like books. They are not obliged to like any 
book and certainly not to like every book. 

If people could only be induced to ask questions, 
there might be some hopes of their becoming eventually 
enlightened. But if people have no questions to ask, 
what is the use of trying to enlighten them? 

Athens ruled Greece and Pericles ruled Athens. 
Everything is the work of a single man at last. Every 
people follows some leader, and only one at a time. 

One cannot know the contents of a book by simply 
turning over the leaves. It takes time to make the ac- 
quaintance of a work, as it does to make the acquaint- 
ance of a person. It is impossible to form a correct idea 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



287 



of a man's character by simply noticing the color of his 
eyes or the shape of his nose. 

If there be anything for which God is to be held re- 
sponsible, or anything for which he is to be debited or 
credited, it is the thoughts and beliefs of reasoning crea- 
tures. Men do not manufacture or create their beliefs — 
they come to them already created or manufactured. 
Every thought that a man has is a product of the age in 
which he lives, and he could not have precisely the same 
thought in any other age. Inspiration is not something 
anomalous ; it is an every-day affair. 

Every man is in truth a born savage, and he never 
gets to be really anything else. His ancestors, it will be 
remembered, were savages pure and simple. The only 
effect of civilization is to suppress or conceal his savage 
features, or perhaps to turn his barbarous propensities in 
new directions. 

Why should we be angry with those whose opinions 
do not happen to agree with ours ? The only case where 
people are supposed to do wrong is where their ideas of 
right differ from our ideas. 

What real inducement is there for a man to look after 
himself, when the government advertises to do every- 
thing for him? No wonder we have so many people 
that are without minds of their own. By sheer want of 
practice, their minds degenerate and return finally to the 
rudimentary state. 

Speeches, and meetings, and resolutions of sympathy 
are good in their way, but hard work is better. 

People who want exercise should work. To take ex- 
ercise for the mere sake of exercise is nonsense, and 
savages so consider it. 

People in the youthful state are inclined to effervesce 
too much. It is so with youthful nations — America for 
instance. 

The most bloodthirsty of all animals is man. He is 



288 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



the only creature that delights in killing his kind and 
the only one that destroys without any apparent motive. 
He will shoot his fellow for amusement, or blow him up 
with dynamite, just for the fun of seeing him elevated ! 
He goes out to kill bears and elephants simply to keep 
in practice. And yet he boasts of his tender and hu- 
mane feelings and his fine sensibilities ! But really 
either the lion or the tiger has more tenderness and finer 
feelings than man. Neither of these animals makes use 
of poisoned arrows or machine guns. 

Fear should never enter as an element into govern- 
ment. Fear never improves the disposition of any crea- 
ture. 

The court that condemned Socrates was simply a crowd 
of ignorant Athenians. Men are tried to-day by just 
such ignoble crowds, either large or small. But how 
does it come that our fate must depend upon the 
opinions of the people around us? In the case of 
Socrates, two hundred and eighty voted against him 
and two hundred and twenty for him. Had the vote 
been reversed, he would have been acquitted. But 
would he have been less guilty ? 

Love is tyrannical, as was illustrated in the case of 
Dean Swift and his mistress Stella. Love is suspicious, 
exacting, uncompromising, selfish. The most infuriated 
and desperate haters are those who once have loved. 

Action and reaction are equal. This is a very old 
law, but it is true nevertheless. There can be no greater 
effort made than the resistance to be overcome. If there 
is no resistance there can be no effort. It takes two 
people at least to initiate a contest. 

One of the wildest dreams of man is the dream that 
votes make a man guilty or innocent. A majority of 
one often settles the whole question, even though that 
one vote may be the vote of a fool. 

There are two excuses usually given for arrogating 

18 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



289 



power to which one is not entitled. One is the " consent 
of the governed," and the other is "the will of God." 
Both excuses are alike fraudulent and unfounded. The 
consent of the governed, in practice, is never obtained ; 
and as to the will of God, who pretends to know that ? 
Another excuse equally fraudulent is " the good of the 
greatest number." Who shall decide what is the good of 
the greatest number ? Must it be done by usurpers and 
tyrants ? 

Even pains are not so afflicting as they are supposed 
to be. In a certain sense pains, like hardships, strengthen 
a man. We give our pains too much attention; we 
think and feel too much. If we had no pains we would 
have no pleasures. 

People who do not think do not feel ; and those who 
do not feel do not think. Thinking is feeling, and feel- 
ing is thinking. 

Since it is such a common thing to make laws, and 
such common people make them, why may not every- 
body have the privilege ? 

Art does not differ essentially from nature ; art is 
itself a product of nature. Even the artificial is natural. 

If a man does not happen to have an inheritance, the 
best way for him is to work for a living. 

No man can see what others see ; he sees only what 
he himself sees. 

Money should be earned to spend, as well as to save — 
some to spend for present needs, and some to save for 
emergencies. 

You can have what is good for you, that is, you can 
have what your masters consider good for you. That 
is the theory of all government. 

Usually the worst enemies that a man has are not 
those that he has wronged, but those that have wronged 
him and perhaps have been caught in the act. 

Those who have but few wants need little. 



290 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



With all the world's fondness for subjugating others, 
it is well to observe that it abhors a sneak above all 
other creatures. Any man who has the courage to hold 
up his head and act like a man is sure to be respected of 
all men, even though he may not always have their 
affection. 

How very blind and inconsistent the world is ! If 
you suffer for others, no matter how little, it redounds to 
your glory ; but if you suffer for yourself, no matter how 
much, it is something of no consequence. How supreme 
is the selfishness of men, especially civilized men ! 

If "a man does a creditable thing, why should he not 
recognize the fact as well as other men ? There is too 
much sham modesty in this world, and not enough of the 
other kind. 

One thing is as plain and simple as another, when one 
comes to understand it. 

The time has come when we must meet religious 
questions as we would other questions — fairly, honestly, 
intelligently and independently.- There is no obligation 
for a man to believe either one way or the other. The 
sole question is, how are we impressed, and what do we 
believe ? 

Formerly Providence cared for people. 'Now the state 
monopolizes that business. The state keeps a sort of de- 
partment store and supplies everybody with everything, 
recouping itself for its trouble by taking a large share of 
the profits of the concern. 

It must not be forgotten that any man can discover 
other people's faults much quicker than his own. That 
lies in the very nature of things. A man's feelings and 
hopes have a marked effect upon his vision, and hence it 
is that one man often notices what others fail to observe. 

What earthly good does a monument do a man 
after he is dead — or what difference does it make to him 
whether he has a long or a short procession at his 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



291 



funeral ? All these things are for the living, and not for 
the dead. 

To profess Christianity is one thing; to practice 
Christianity is another. People have professed Christ- 
ianity in great numbers for nineteen hundred years, 
but those who have practiced it with anything like vigor 
and success have been few indeed. 

Whether an author has written a funny thing or not, 
he never can know until he hears from his readers. It 
may be funny for him and not funny at all for other 
people. 

The New Dispensation is the basis of a new belief and 
a new theory of life. It implies a radical change in our 
present manner of living and doing. Is it not time that 
we had a new departure? Would any one call our 
present methods a success ? If this world is a failure — 
as to a large extent it seems to be — it is the fault of man 
and not of God. If men would think better and do 
better, we should have optimism prevailing instead of 
pessimism. 

" Property and laws are born together and they will 
depart together ; before the laws, there was no property ; 
take away the laws, and property ceases." — Bentham. 

Toil is one of the results of civilization. The wild 
and nomadic races know nothing of labor as we have it 
at the present day. Civilization increases the pains of 
life in a thousand ways, and yet there are those who con- 
sider that civilization is advancement ! 

No religion can survive for any length of time with- 
out the services of the priest. The priest is the interme- 
diary between God and man. He is God's advocate. 
People cannot see God, and therefore they cannot wor- 
ship him. So they worship the priest, who is God's 
representative in the flesh — when they worship at all. 

The little humpbacked Eichard III. was guilty of a 
great many horrible crimes, but he declared they were 



292 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



all necessary — and. taking his word for it. they were 
necessary. He said they were necessary in order to give 
him the crown and make his throne secure. But an ex- 
cuse as good as that could be given by any rascal. Na- 
poleon had the Duke d'Enghien killed simply because he 
found it dangerous or unpleasant to have such an enemy 
around. Like all murderers. Napoleon had a reason, a 
good reason as he thought, for every villainous act of 
which he was guilty. 

With knowledge, freedom advances : slavery is toler- 
ated only where ignorance prevails. 

Descartes said that nothing is certain but thought — 
and he was right. 

You cannot varnish truth so that it will shine like a 
lie ; but the truth after all is the truth, and a lie is a lie. 
A lie is only a base imitation, and yet people love lies. 
If readers could only be made to believe that the Xew 
Dispensation was a work of fiction, everybody would 
want to read it and see how the story turned out. 

People study everything except the one thing needful. 
They never study how to live. 

The surest way to add to your accumulations is to 
curtail your wants and lessen your expenditures. 

Eeason is opposed to love, and love is opposed to rea- 
son ; the same is true of envy and hate. 

Christ and Mahomet both believed in themselves, and 
no one accomplishes much in this world who does not 
believe in himself. Martin Luther also believed in him- 
self. 

Few people realize how few things — especially bad 
things — are known by their right names. A man who 
is a lounger, a thief or a robber never calls himself by 
that title. The worst despots that ruled Rome in its 
proudest days never called themselves either emperors 
or tyrants. A political boss does not call himself a boss 
— he is only a leader. And so with regard to slavery. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



293 



Everybody would declare that there is no slavery to-day, 
especially in civilized lands, and yet as a matter of fact 
there is as much now as ever before. It merely assumes 
new forms and goes by new names. Where there is 
much law, there always is much slavery. 

Of course there is nothing really new in the New Dis- 
pensation. There is not a thought in it that has not 
been thought before by somebody in some part of the 
world— and yet to the great mass of the people who 
have given no attention to the subject the thoughts pre- 
sented in the New Dispensation are nearly all new. 
What Christ taught had all been taught before ; what 
Mahomet dreamed had all been dreamed before, and the 
same is true of all teachers of mankind. There is noth- 
ing new in this world ; even our jumping-jack was 
known to the Egyptians four thousand years ago. 

That any two persons should be able to see the same 
object alike, they must at least have the same point of 
view, and that is something that never happens in any 
case. 

No man likes to change his direction. It causes him 
inconvenience, if not pain ; it seems to strain him in 
some way. The force of habit is always strong. 

If war is to be justified under any circumstances, then 
we must not condemn murder, rapine, robbery or crime 
in any case. . 

Nature may do something for man without man's help 
— but God never does. 

This world is very much as you make it — nothing was 
ever said truer than this. If you are morose, everybody 
else will appear to be morose ; if you are cheerful and 
kind, you will find others cheerful and kind. 

The Lord never made any two people alike, old or 
young. Even the Siamese twins were very much un- 
like. But the ambitious men of modern times think 
they can improve upon the Lord's performance, and they 



294 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



exhaust most of their energies in trying to make every 
one like his comrades. They want all to look alike, act 
alike and think alike. How monstrously absurd this is ! 

Good thoughts do not crowd in by scores or dozens. 
They come in, like carrier pigeons, one at a time, and at 
long intervals. 

There was a time when it was dangerous to have a 
new thought, and one who was so unfortunate as to have 
such a thing might as well have been possessed of a 
devil. And, sad to say, that time is not fully past yet. 

All true salvation must come from within, and if a 
man does the work properly he will have something to 
occupy his attention for a lifetime. To go about saving 
other people's souls, will generally be found to be an un- 
profitable empl6yment. 

There are misguided men and misguided women in 
this world. We are all more or less misguided. Those 
who go abroad trying to subdue people are certainly 
misguided. 

There is no compulsion in moral law ; when compul- 
sion appears, the law ceases to be moral. Why should 
there be compulsion in any law ? 

It must not be forgotten that there are bad men as 
well as good men ; and even good men are bad by spells. 
Marcus Aurelius and Seneca were examples. 

It has cost the author of this work fifty years, and 
even more, of hard study to master the doctrines taught 
in this book ; and it is hardly probable that any novice 
will be found so promising or so precocious that he can 
master the work in half a day, or even a week. 

Privileges of all kinds are always for the few, or they 
would not be privileges. Privileges are never for the 
multitude. When the American colonies fought for 
liberty, it was not for the liberty of the wives, the children, 
the slaves and the criminals, but only liberty for "free 
men.'' It was for males only, and even for simply a por- 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



295 



tiort of these. So it was in Greece, and among the old 
Germans, and so it has always been. 

The most dangerous weapon with which a man can be 
entrusted is power. Even the church in the Middle 
Ages was corrupted by the power it had acquired or 
which fell into its hands from time to time. So cov- 
etous, so ambitious and so worldly did it finally become, 
it almost lost sight of its original mission, the salvation 
of mankind. 

In the Middle Ages they had few criminals for two 
reasons : first, because every man had a certain amount 
of character, and again, because there were few laws — in 
fact no laws at all such as we have at the present day. 
Hallam says of that period : "A convicted criminal was 
not, as at present, the stricken deer of society, whose 
disgrace his kindred shrink from participating and whose 
memory they strive to forget/' There was violence 
then, but then in violence there was no crime. 

The greatest of all inheritances, and the only one 
worth having, is a sound body guided and governed by 
common sense. 

Orthodoxy is an iron rule that never yields, never 
varies, and of course it can be applied in only one case. 
New ideas, new conditions require new rules. Nature 
abhors orthodoxy : it never makes two things exactly 
alike, nor does it do things twice in precisely the same 
manner. 

It should not be forgotten that things may be valuable 
and still cost much more than they are worth. 

Why are people so anxious to save other people's 
souls ? 

There is only one condition upon which two people 
shall always think alike — and that is that one shall do 
the thinking for both. 

Men are great preachers of morality, but they rarely 
follow their own doctrines. 



296 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Thoughts arise in our minds to be expressed; when 
unexpressed, they become burdensome and oppressive. 

From the age of fifty years onward, the body gradu- 
ally declines and decays ; but the mind of a healthy man 
steadily strengthens and broadens up to the age of eighty 
or over. 

It takes a man a lifetime to learn how to live and how 
to adapt himself to the situation in which he is placed. 
It takes years and requires both patience and industry to 
unlearn what in early life he learned amiss. It takes 
time to enable one to divest himself of his disagreeable 
characteristics. It takes both time and effort to acquire 
new traits and enable one to bring himself into harmony 
with the men with whom he finds himself associated. 

A man never lives up to his own standard of excel- 
lence or his ideal of goodness. He sees what is good 
and knows what is right, but there is always something 
in the way of its attainment. We always like better 
men than ourselves — every man hates a rascal or a 
traitor. So in the Middle Ages men loved virtue and 
nobleness, but as to themselves, they often came far 
short of the mark. However, it is well to have high 
aims, even if we never attain them. 

It is well to bear in mind that there can be no agent 
or representative as the term is commonly understood — 
no man can act for or as another. Even an agent, when 
he comes to act, does so on his own responsibility and as 
if he were himself the principal. He very often does as 
his principal would not do. Authority cannot be dele- 
gated, because one man cannot control another man's 
will. If the agent were a machine and had no mind of 
his own, the case would be different. Bearing these 
facts in view, it will be seen that there can be no such 
thing as true representative government in practice. 

No man likes to take advice from others — it looks too 
much like a reflection on his judgment. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



297 



When you come down to the common sense of the 
matter, does the character of the man you wrong make 
any difference in the extent of your guilt ? If a man 
has injured you, does that excuse you for making a 
savage of yourself? 

With scarcely an exception, the clergy support the 
government, because the government supports the clergy. 
During the war of the American revolution, the clergy 
of England were bitterly opposed to the independence of 
the American colonists. It is a remarkable fact that the 
clergy as a body generally favor war, especially the wars 
for conquest in which their country engages. They 
always have in view the "spread of the gospel." 

" Nowhere are the weakest parts of the human mind 
more clearly seen than in the history of legislation." — 
Buckle. 

As a rule laws are not made for the people, but for 
the use and service of those who are at the head of the 
government. Laws are simply permits legitimatizing 
the wicked acts which the rulers or their agents con- 
template. The criminal courts and crimiDal laws are a 
powerful engine in the hands of him who happens to be 
the sovereign — and the kings and queens of England 
never failed to make free use of that engine in carry- 
ing out their designs. They did not hesitate to avail 
themselves of the services of hired spies, of witnesses 
that had been suborned, and of juries that had been 
packed and prepared for the occasion. 

Bishop Horley, of England, in 1795, said: "I do 
not know what the mass of the people in any coun- 
try had to do with the laws, but to obey them" — and 
that is the prevailing sentiment among rulers and law- 
makers generally. 

There is only one kind of mastery of which a man has 
a right to feel proud, and that is the mastery of the sub- 
ject of which he treats. Strength that comes from that 



298 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



source is the only strength worth possessing. A man 
that knows is always a better man than a man that does 
not know — or he certainly ought to be a better man. 

People will believe the Bible, taking on trust the 
word of men of whom they know absolutely nothing, 
and accepting statements of things that are unreasonable 
and unaccountable, if not actually impossible. Why 
should they not accept the statements made and the 
truths presented by the author of the New Dispensation? 
They know, or they might know, something of his 
character and acquirements, and they probably appre- 
ciate the fact that what he says is neither impossible, 
impracticable, nor improbable. 

The two things that a man fights hardest and longest 
for are God and his native land — and both are largely 
chimerical. They are not well-defined realities. A man 
does not fight for his native land after he has left it and 
adopted some other country. And as to God, he never 
sees him and he knows actually nothing about him. 
Still, there are many people who are ready to give up 
their lives for God ! The ways not alone of God are 
mysterious ; the ways of men are equally so. 

A man who is honest and sensible does not want 
praise ; and flattery he scorns. He simply wants what 
is due. If he has done or said a good thing, and the 
people know it, they do wrong not to concede that much. 
That is merely fair treatment — nothing else. Post- 
humous praise never helps a man after he is dead, and 
of course he never gets it before he is dead. 

No man needs to be ashamed to have his biography 
published, if he has behaved himself properly. It is a 
great mistake to do at any time what we would be afraid 
to have the world know. There is no rest for the 
wicked ; there is no rest for a man who is troubled with 
a secret. He might better have dyspepsia or the shingles 
than to be perpetually worried over a secret. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



299 



Is there really much difference between collecting 
taxes and robbing helpless people generally ? The state 
sends its spies and agents around to hunt up taxable 
property with a view to plunder, precisely as a bank 
robber goes out prospecting for a safe to crack. Both 
are constantly on the lookout for victims. Where is 
the difference ? 

Christian nations have a queer way of dealing with 
natives, or savages, as they affect to call them. They 
first send their armies to devastate the country and kill 
as many people as possible, and then they send their 
missionaries with Bibles under their arms to administer 
spiritual consolation to the few who survive. 

The most unfortunate fool is a fool that does not 
know that he is a fool. If a man is a fool, and knows it, 
he may get along pretty well. There are plenty of both 
kinds. 

In civilized countries men are subject to an iron rule 
in all they do. They must do as other people do, and 
other people must do as some interested law-maker dic- 
tates that they shall do. The fact that the circumstances 
in no two cases are alike is never taken into account. 
They must wear coats like other folks, they must talk 
like other folks, they must eat like other folks. How 
absurd and unjust the law of fashion is ! 

Religion ought to be something to live by, but we do 
not seem to have anything of that kind in this country. 
We are like Artemas Ward, who said he had the gift 
of eloquence, but he did not have it with him that even- 
ing. 

Many men have stray thoughts, but they never pursue 
them to their legitimate consequences, and hence they 
fail to realize their full import. 

Fighting sin ! Was sin ever subdued or suppressed 
by fighting ? Never. Fighting strengthens sin. Fight- 
ing always strengthens the adversary and brings from 



300 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



his innermost soul all the power of which it is capable. 
Men subside when they are let alone, but they never do 
while they are opposed. 

How hateful a thing is race prejudice, or indeed preju- 
dice of any kind ! Nothing could be more despicable 
than race or class prejudice. 

Make him pay, make him smart, make him suffer! 
That is the spirit which most men boast of, but it is the 
spirit of the Devil. The contract ! The pound of flesh ! 
Stand by your bargain! How much misery this avari- 
cious spirit has engendered ! Shylock must have left a 
numerous progeny. 

People prate much about titles and titles and titles — 
titles to this and titles to that. But where is the man 
who can show a just claim or a sound title to anything? 
The Devil promised our Saviour all the kingdoms of the 
earth, when the fact was that there was not a foot of 
land that he could call his own. 

There are many mistakes made by the present genera- 
tion, but none more serious than that of supposing that 
a man at seventy does not know as much as he did at 
forty or fifty. 

Strange, is it not, that we cannot do anything, we can- 
not utter a word even, without having authority ! It 
must be just such a word, and uttered at just such a 
time, in just such a manner, or we shall find ourselves out 
of order or not acting in good form ! 

People are too apt to forget that no remedies have 
yet been discovered that could be applied to the 
past. It is the future only that we are able to provide 
for. 

The way to manage a state is to get the crowd headed 
in the desired direction. People are like sheep. They 
go in flocks and always follow a leader. However, like 
sheep also, they are easily frightened. 

A contract gives no rights. No man possesses any 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



301 



right in the first place, and so he has none to confer upon 
others. A contract or consent could not change the 
character of an action. No contract could make black 
white. A man may consent to a wicked action, but it is 
none the less wicked for all that. 

When will men begin to understand and acknowledge 
the fact that a man's bad conduct is no evidence of his 
bad character, or even of his bad intentions ? As Buckle 
well remarks : " An overwhelming majority of religious 
persecutors have been men of the purest intentions, of 
the most admirable and unsullied morals." 

In examining Cromwell's papers after his death, en- 
tries were found in several cases where he directed that 
such and such a person should be " tried and executed." 
History affords no better illustration than this of the 
true character of legal trials and the nature of all punish- 
ments. The object in all cases is to paralyze or remove 
one offending person for the benefit or gratification of 
some other person. 

The less knowledge a man has, the stronger will be his 
faith. People never had such faith as was exhibited in 
the Middle Ages, and they never had so little real 
knowledge. 

The policy of government at the present day consists 
mainly in throwing the burdens of one class upon the 
shoulders of another class. 

Forgetfulness is a panacea for all pains, a balm for all 
wrongs. 

The same slavery may be noticed in the use of words 
that we find in fashions. You must use words as 
others use them, even though you know they are wrong. 
To be out of fashion is to be out of the world. 

Thoughts are not connected — nothing is really con- 
nected. Every thought is independent of every other 
thought. It is a mistake to say one thing refers to 
another thing, for it never does. 



302 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



In the Dark Ages the people feared the Devil more 
than they loved Grod. At the present time the people 
neither fear the Devil nor love God. They care very 
little for either. 

One thing must at least be conceded in favor of the 
New Dispensation: It is uniformly on the side of 
decency, sincerity, honesty and fair play — and that is 
more than can be said of some other books that enjoy a 
high reputation. 

There is no grace in nature. If a man incurs a 
penalty, he must pay it. Neither faith, nor works nor re- 
pentance will save a man after the sin against nature's 
laws has been committed. 

Gruizot says : " We are painfully struck with that 
pitiless disdain with which the social power exercises 
itself over the thousands of individuals who only hear it 
spoken of as something they are to submit to without 
any concurrence of their intellect and will. Nothing of 
the kind existed in feudal society." 

There can be no change, no improvement in revealed 
law. If the Bible is true, whatever differs from it must 
be untrue. There can be no progress under religion, ex- 
cept so far as religion is discarded. 

For over fifteen hundred years at least, in Europe, the 
individual did not appeal to the state for justice. He 
fought for it. He acknowledged no man as the judge 
over his actions, no man as the arbiter of his fate. Then 
men had what might be called personal rights and in- 
dividual liberty. Now we have only collective liberty — 
the liberty of the masses of the state — and precious little 
of that. 

There is in the heart of every individual — even in the 
heart of a slave— a protest against being overcome by 
force ; and yet it is only by the continued application of 
force that any government can be maintained. Indeed, 
government implies force and restraint. 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



303 



It is pretty hard eradicating the (rod-idea from the 
minds of men. What has been two or three thousand 
years in growing is not so easily overthrown. Even in- 
heritance exerts a powerful influence upon mankind. 

Knowledge can be acquired only by inquiry and ob- 
servation ; and so it happens that the lower classes that 
have neither the time nor the inclination for study uni- 
formly remain ignorant, compared with those who have 
more wealth and more leisure. Only a few people be- 
come learned and wise, as only a few people. become rich. 
Wealth and wisdom are only for a small minority, and 
it seems to be a law of nature that such should be the 
case. 

We hate labor because labor belongs to the slave. 
When we cease to have slavery and poverty, then labor 
will become respectable. 

If constitutions were always observed, and if laws were 
never violated ; if the guilty were always punished and 
the innocent left undisturbed, we would have some con- 
fidence in the wisdom of law-makers and in the efficacy 
of laws. But as a matter of fact, the state has under- 
taken what it is quite unable to accomplish. After long- 
continued efforts that have proved unavailing, and after 
thousands, and even millions have been slaughtered by 
the state in its vain efforts to subjugate mankind and 
compel them to serve its wicked purposes, it now 
begins to appear to the world in its true light, that of an 
ambitious and unscrupulous usurper and innovator mak- 
ing a sad miscarriage of its ill-directed exertions. Its 
only success lies in proving itself a stupendous failure, 
and in that its achievement is phenomenal. After cen- 
turies and centuries of government, people are just now 
beginning to perceive and appreciate the utter worth- 
lessness of such an institution. 

How very absurd it is to keep pretending and repeat- 
ing that society could not exist without laws ! Do the 



304 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



lower animals, as we call them, have laws ? Did not 
civilization progress hundreds, and even thousands, of 
years without a legislature ? It is only a comparatively 
short time since the state appeared and law-making be- 
gan. Through human laws the slavery of mankind has 
been made practicable and permanent. Again, at least 
seventy-five per cent, of all of man's action is directed by 
his own judgment, independent of law. Why could he 
not manage to get along with the remaining quarter ? 

In Athens, the city was free, but the citizen was a 
slave. This often happens. By becoming a citizen, a 
man ceases to be a man. 

In Athens they killed a man if he chopped down an 
olive tree. 

The Romans worshiped Janus, who was double-faced 
and who could look two ways at the same time. We 
have double-faced people at the present day, but we 
seldom worship them. 

Thinking is a tiresome process, because it requires 
so much attention and concentration of mind. 

If a man wishes to maintain his independence, he 
should keep aloof from all organizations. The more a 
man allows himself to become involved in organizations, 
the less liberty he must possess. A man is never so 
much a man as when he stands alone. 

There are too many people who, when there is any 
hard work to perform, uniformly send a substitute. 

In prosperity a man wants friends ; in adversity he 
wants friends. In fact a man needs the help of friends 
under all circumstances. 

People do not talk so much about (rod and the Bible 
as formerly, but we hear more about justice and hu- 
manity. 

The penalties now imposed and the punishments in- 
flicted by our laws were the penalties and punishments 
which the Romans applied to their slaves. Freemen 

19 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



305 



were not thus treated in Europe one thousand or even 
two thousand years ago. Under the Salic laws there 
were no corporal punishments, no imprisonment. 

Every republic, every representative government in 
any form, is simply and purely an elective oligarchy. 
Instead of having thirty tyrants, the numbers often run 
up into hundreds. 

Must a man always be controlled by what others say, 
when he forms an estimate of his own character and 
worth ? Who should know a man better than he knows 
himself? Why may he not be allowed to form an 
estimate in his own case as well as in that of others ? 

It is hard to believe that there is, under any cir- 
cumstances, such a thing as disinterested friendship — 
there is certainly none between nations. Friendship, like 
love and piety, always has a selfish side. 

Not only must every body of men have a commander 
to direct them, or a leader whom they may follow, when 
they are supposed to be moving and acting together, but 
every country must have a head and it must obey some 
master. It must also have some central point towards 
which all its people may gravitate. In old Eoman 
times, Kome itself was the empire; so to-day, Paris is, 
and for centuries past it has been, France. 

It is not alone the poor man who suffers from wants 
unsatisfied. It is a fact, as Horace says, that " The 
miser, too, is ever in want." 

The question as to what constitutes a crime is not 
easily answered. It is answered differently in different 
countries, at different times. At one time in England it 
was a capital offense to kill a deer or even to shoot a 
hare without permission from the proper authorities. 

Wallace says : "I have lived with communities of 
savages in South America, and in the East, who have no 
laws or law courts, except the public opinion of the 
village freely expressed. Each man scrupulously re- 



306 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



spects the rights of his fellows, and any infraction of 
these rights rarely or never takes place." 

The people seem to forget that the state has a direct 
interest in the continued existence of rascals and crimin- 
als, as well as in the development of bad men generally. 
If we did not have such people, the state would have 
nothing to do, and all our governmental machinery 
would be dispensed with as worthless. The state would 
simply have to retire from business ; it would have no 
reason for being. Every time the state removes a 
criminal, it does so much towards working itself out of a 
job. There is a good understanding generally between 
criminals and certain officers of the state or city, espe- 
cially policemen. Criminals have votes and influence, and 
even money, and so long as they keep out of jail they 
are as good as anybody. What would become of police- 
men if there were no offenders? We would have no 
policemen. 

The men who have succeeded in life, it will uniformly 
be found, are not those who depended either upon God, 
the state, or the Devil. They were men of strong resolu- 
tion, and they were neither afraid nor unwilling to work. 
They never depended upon any higher power than them- 
selves. 

As a matter of fact, everything that exists dies, and it 
is being constantly replaced. Death as a change is not 
anomalous in the career of men ; changes similar in 
character to those of death are going on continually. 
When a man takes on flesh, or loses flesh, he is not the 
same man. When he loses an arm or a leg, or two arms 
or two legs, would any one say he is the same man still ? 
Most certainly not. When a grain is taken from a 
pound, it ceases to be a pound. 

No man should pretend to piety, or even to goodness 
of any kind, who believes in wars for subjugation, or in 
oppressing or punishing any human being, no matter 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



307 



how vile his character may appear nor how criminal his 
conduct. 

After a person is born, it is hard regenerating him — 
it is almost impossible. Indeed, so far as a man changes, 
he is not the same person. As a matter of fact, people 
change less in their character than we commonly im- 
agine. Certain features may be suppressed or concealed, 
but they are never destroyed. 

We may form some idea of how much reliance we 
may place upon the opinions of people, as a matter of 
evidence, when we remember that in 1660, in England, 
the majority of educated men believed in witchcraft, 
while in 1688 the majority disbelieved in it. 

Many murderers are acquitted on the plea of insanity. 
This is right. But why not acquit all murderers, and 
even all criminals, on the same ground? This also 
would be right. Every murder, and every crime, is the 
act of an irrational man — the result of what might be 
called an insane impulse. 

A man counts in this world according to what he can 
accomplish ; if he cannot do anything, he does not count. 

It is best always to do what is believed to be right. 
However, it is vain to hope that such a course is going 
to please everybody. Some people are hard to please ; 
they do not want what is right, but what is wrong. 

"War makes savages, and savages alone engage in the 
beastly business of butchering their fellow men. 

We do not wonder that so high an estimate is placed 
upon liberty. Even death is preferred to slavery by all 
true men. There are no true men but free men. 

When we give to the few, or help the few, and neglect 
the many, are we doing right ? If all were helped, the 
case would be different. Suppose Christ had died to 
save only a few, what kind of a Saviour would he have 
been ? 

In order to secure anything like the credit that is due 



308 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



to a man, he needs a great deal of advertising and more or 
less strategy. But to a gentleman such arts and artifices 
are extremely repugnant and distasteful. 

Killing weeds now and then does not exterminate the 
pest ; new weeds always spring up to replace those we 
have taken the trouble to remove. So it is in killing 
criminals. It never exterminates the class; it really 
makes the class grow more luxuriantly than before. 

A man has no more right to be proud of his thoughts 
than he has to be proud of his strength. A man's 
strength is given him ; so are his thoughts. With a 
man's style of writing the case is different. That comes 
under the head of art. 

Gratuities never pay ; do what you feel that you 
ought to do, and stop there. 

When civilized people desire to show their good will 
to their friends, they prepare a feast for them and cram 
their stomachs with superfluities. But this is not a good 
way. It is both money and eatables misapplied. Be- 
sides, it leads to indigestion and the nightmare. 

Savages as a rule know nothing of virtue, goodness, 
gratitude, wisdom, justice, law. Even the ancient 
Greeks had no well defined notions of these things. 

Money — a moderate amount of money — has some 
value. It serves to supply a man's wants and aids him 
in becoming independent. Beyond that money has no 
value. As something to keep, or to look at and think 
of, it is no better than a piece of granite rock. Indeed, 
there is something curious and interesting about a piece 
of granite rock — but none about a piece of gold or silver. 

Strangely enough people believe in government and 
at the same time pretend to believe in Christ ! But 
Benan says, and says justly : " Jesus in some respects 
was an anarchist, for he had no idea of civil government. 
Government seemed to him purely and simply an 
abuse." 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



309 



There can be no gains on one side without an equiv- 
alent loss on some other side. From nowhere, nothing 
comes. When an emigrant arrives in this country, 
Europe has one citizen less. He who pays us a dollar 
has so much less left in his purse. There should be no 
mistake about this universal law. People may try to 
evade it, but they cannot annul it. 

Callisthenes had the audacity to tell Alexander the 
truth, that he was no god, and Callisthenes lost his life by 
his imprudence. Alexander himself well knew that he 
was no god, but he did not wish to be reminded of the 
fact. History is full of examples of men who lose their 
lives by speaking the truth. Many people do not want 
to hear the truth, and Alexander was one of that kind. 

No one can hurrv along another man's thoughts. The 
thinking process must have time. 

No matter what a man does, or has done, he is sure to 
be forgotten some day or other. 

In war all villainies culminate and the most frightful 
crimes — murder, rape, robbery, arson — attain their high- 
est stage of development. Why should we reproach 
the ordinary rascal and still praise the devastating hordes 
that parade before the world in the garb of hired soldiers 
— mercenaries who go about murdering innocent people 
at so much per month and found? 

Every man is simply himself, and it is nonsense to 
pretend that he is or can be somebody else, or even just 
like some one else. 

When people began to criticize Grod and inquire into 
his history, habits and habitat, a great advance was made. 
It was not long after this when people began to dis- 
regard the worship of Grod entirely. So it is in the 
matter of state. As people begin to criticize the state, 
they are more and more inclined to discontinue its wor- 
ship. A bubble is a nice thing till it happens to be 
punctured, and then it collapses in short order. 



310 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



The custom of a great many people — indeed, of too 
many people — is to do what they know is wrong in the 
first place, and then to look around for some excuse to 
justify their wickedness. 

To be enabled to get justice in this world a man must 
not simply have a good cause — that will of itself avail 
him little. He must have influence. He must wait in 
the vestibule of the court, or perhaps at the outer gate, 
till he is finally recognized and some one is ready to 
give him attention. There is only one other way to get 
justice, and that is to pay for it, but sometimes even that 
fails. 

In all cases there is great satisfaction in having ac- 
complished something, especially if the work be one of 
importance; but it is quite impossible to see how there 
can be any satisfaction in having done nothing. 

What reasonable ambition could any man properly 
have, beyond getting a living for himself and family in 
an honest way? Is it a worthy ambition to excel or 
conquer ? The author thinks not. 

In the Bible, it is an ideal goodness, an impracticable 
or impossible goodness that is contemplated. In the 
New Dispensation it is a real, wholesome, practical good- 
ness that is considered and commended. 

" Orthodox " has become a hateful, as well as a mis- 
used term. A¥hat makes a man orthodox ? Why, he 
follows authority, rule, custom, fashion. He does not 
think on his own account ; he thinks what others think, 
what he is told to think. An orthodox man is not him- 
self, he is somebody else. Thank heaven there are com- 
paratively few such people remaining in civilized coun- 
tries to-day. No intelligent man pretends to be strictly 
orthodox. Even the ministers themselves long since 
ceased to be orthodox. What both the church and 
state object to — and indeed what masters generally ob- 
ject to — is that the common people shall do their own 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



311 



thinking. Both, the church and state continue to exist 
only on condition that the masses do not think. 

The Bible condemns sin, but still it is found to be very 
useful. If there were no sin, no sacrifices would be 
needed, and without sacrifices what would God and the 
priests do? But this principle is more strikingly ex- 
emplified in the case of the state. The state tolerates 
what it affects to call evils, and then it taxes them so as 
to make them a source of revenue. The trial of criminals 
has always been a source of revenue to the state. These 
evils afford excuses for wringing more taxes from the 
people. The state affects to treat the drinking habit as 
wicked, but it taxes the liquor drinker and the liquor 
seller most unmercifully. The money that it draws from 
that sinful source amounts to millions annually. The 
state does not also tax prostitution in the same way, but 
its agents or officers most certainly do. It costs money to 
keep the police quiet and prevent them from seeing what 
is plain enough to the eyes of ordinary observers. 

The leading object in life should be to avoid collisions. 
In whatever we do, or whithersoever we go, we should 
endeavor to keep out of the way of other people. In 
this rule lies the great secret of happiness. 

When will people in this enlightened age, so called, 
finally get the crazy idea, or the superstitious notion, out 
of their heads that a thing is true because somebody 
swears to it — some knave, perhaps, or some fool ? We 
really think this is the craziest, most absurd conception 
that was ever entertained by man. 

The prevailing rule among civilized nations is to force 
a fight with some weak and unoffending people, make a 
great noise about the matter, and then proceed to punish 
these people for daring to offer resistance. That is the 
plan uniformly adopted, and it generally succeeds. 

Those who accustom themselves to expect nothing 
will never be disappointed. 



312 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



If it be such a proper thing to give, why should not 
everybody give ? Why should not you give ? 

Who reads the Bible for guidance and instruction 
now? Who follows its teachings? 

The trouble with every government supposed to be 
democratic lies in the fact that so few people do the 
thinking. It is well known that those who do the 
thinking and managing always do the governing. 

Nothing is certain — even death is not certain for any 
day, or month, or year. A man's life has often been pro- 
longed beyond the day set apart for his final departure. 

It is nonsense to teach that men must be social, must 
organize, must combine, must have a Grod, must have a 
Bible, must have masters, must have government. Sheer 
nonsense ! We may have them, and we may not, as we 
please. We could go along very nicely without them — 
very many people have done so in times past. 

All the fundamental truths taught in the New Dis- 
pensation are taught in the Bible — such as "avenge not, 1 ' 
"sin not/' "swear not,'' "judge not,"' "condemn not,"' 
"kill not," " offend not, 1 ' But unfortunately, all of these 
good and wholesome truths are negatived and nullified 
by the wicked things taught, both by precept and ex- 
ample, in other portions of the Bible. 

Something new? There is nothing absolutely new. 
A thing may be new to some and not to others. The 
term, like all others, is purely relative. Things may 
be new to many people, and yet not be new to all. 

It is true that the people do not make the laws ; but 
the people, and the people alone, unmake them. 

Three men constitute an organization. A question 
comes up ; two want one thing, while the other wants 
something entirely different. The two men, being the ma- 
jority, have their way, while the third is cast aside and 
disregarded as if he were nobody. That is government 
— especially constitutional government — but is it right ? 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



313 



Societies and clubs prosper chiefly because people are 
inordinately fond of wearing regalia and holding an 
oifice with some high-sounding title. People also like 
to participate in social functions for the honor that is 
supposed to be connected with the affair and for the op- 
portunity offered of getting an elaborate meal occasion- 
ally at the expense of some one else. 

We exist so long as we are independent of all other 
bodies. When we belong to some other body as a 
member or an associate, we become only a part of a 
thing, and hence we have no existence of our own. 
What men do as parts of another body, as members of 
some group or organization, they of course do not do at 
all. What it takes two men to do one alone could not do. 
What the army does the soldier in that army does not 
do. The mind can grasp only single things. Thought 
is one and indivisible. No man can have part of a 
thought. 

Liberty has always been for the few. Even in feudal 
times — a period during which more was done for in- 
dividual liberty than has ever been done since — it was 
the baron, the lord, and not the serf that had the liberty 
in every instance. The more liberty the lord had the 
less the serf had. What the lord had the serf ought to 
have had. Liberty implies power and the ability to use 
it ; to those who have no power liberty would be of no 
value. It is a curious fact that if all had liberty none 
would have liberty. Liberty, like every blessing or 
every quality, is a relative term. So far as liberty exerts 
itself and is successful, so far that which resists it must 
succumb ; or in other words, it must so far lose its liberty. 

How could a man be expected to have any character 
under our modern system ? A man feels under no 
obligation to do what he knows to be right. He simply 
does what is lawful, and more than that is not ex- 
pected from any man. If we did not have so many 



314 THE NEW DISPENSATION. 

laws, people would have more character. This was 
certainly true of the old Germans and of the Ameri- 
can Indians. Indeed, uncultivated people generally 
are noted for their hospitality and noble traits. They 
do not need laws to make them good. Laws never 
made any people good, but the reverse has often hap- 
pened. Laws have made many people bad. Bad laws 
always have that effect. 

In the early ages of Europe, especially among the 
Germans, a man was supposed to have character, and his 
word had a definite value. If he was accused and he 
made oath that he was innocent, he was excused. But 
it would not answer to have such a rule at the present 
day, for if it prevailed all would go free. A large por- 
tion of even our best people would testify to a falsehood, 
if by taking such a simple course as that they could be 
saved from a penalty. This fact is so well understood 
that no man is allowed to prove his case by his own 
evidence at the present time, his word not being con- 
sidered worth anything. 

Nothing will be found more selfish than our moral 
law, when we take pains to go down to the bottom of 
the matter. We do not want people to do anything to 
hurt us ; and the more they do to promote our interests, 
the more moral we consider them. If you keep on serv- 
ing others, then you are all right in their estimation. 
What you do for yourself never counts. Among other 
things, it is immoral to steal, not so much on account of 
the wickedness of the act, but because people do not like 
to lose their property. If people had no property to 
lose, they would not be concerned about stealing. 

" Necessity ! " This word must have been invented by 
the Devil — it is so unique, so elastic, so flexible, so de- 
ceiving, so treacherous, so dishonest ! A man murders 
his enemy because it is necessary, and we in turn murder 
the murderer for the same reason. When a question of 



LIVING THOUGHTS. 



315 



necessity arises every man sits in judgment on his own 
case, and he decides it, of course, uniformly in his own 
favor. The state does the same thing. The question of 
necessity, like every other question, is decided on opin- 
ions. Decisions differ because men differ in opinion. 
Anything is necessary or unnecessary just as people 
wish to have it. It is like a case of dissolving views, 
exceedingly variable in character. However, as a matter 
of fact, nothing is necessary ; or if it is necessary, we 
have no means of ascertaining the fact. 

Generosity is praised as a virtue. But it may be, and 
it often is, a crime — if we may judge by the misery it 
frequently entails. In the workings of generosity, we 
may observe how bad a thing even a good trait may be- 
come. But is it really sensible that any man shall suffer 
unnecessarily in order that others may be gratified ? To 
be really generous is to give to everybody at all times, 
without respect of persons, whether one is in need or 
not, and whether one has an abundance or not. Who 
shall decide whether a certain case is or is not one of 
need? Is it everybody's duty to relieve all the suffer- 
ing there is in the world ? Has not even suffering its 
bright side, and does it not finally do as much good for 
the world as pleasure does ? 

Protection ! Under what a childish delusion do man- 
kind labor ! Protection from a God that is not even 
known to exist, and protection from a state that is at the 
same time imperceptible and intangible ! How or where 
does the state protect us? Does it protect us from 
disQase or death ? Does it protect us against our ene- 
mies, or against those who have an interest in harming 
us? When did people ever suffer more from the pains 
inflicted by their fellow men than at the present time? 
When were there more wrongs endured than now, at the 
hands of criminals, at the hands of the avaricious, or from 
the blunders of the careless or ignorant ? Is the state 



316 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



present either by night or by day to defend us ? No, 
all that we have is our remedies — we have the courts. 
But the courts are slow and expensive ; and besides they 
are usually more inclined to help villains than honest 
men. Indeed, it is a fraud and a farce on the part of 
the state to pretend for a moment that it protects the 
ordinary citizen. The fact is that it neither protects him 
nor allows him to protect himself, in any prompt or 
effective manner. 

Gruizot says : " The peculiar character of all works in 
Germany, in poetry, philosophy, or history, is a non- 
acquaintance with the external world, the absence of the 
feeling of reality." This remark would apply not only 
to learning in Germany, but to learning throughout the 
world. Learning too frequently inclines to dreaminess ; 
it is rarely practical, and it is seldom confined to facts 
as they are found to exist. 

The New Dispensation teaches the great doctrine that 
Christ taught, only in broader, stronger and more em- 
phatic terms: The doctrine of the equal mekit, 
the equal goodness and the equal eights of all 
mankind. There can be no slavery, no subjuga- 
tion, NO TORTURES, NO PUNISHMENT, IN THIS OR ANY 
OTHER LIFE, IN ANY PLACE OR ANY SECTION OF THE 
WORLD, UNDER THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



This book is the author's bequest to the world. Such 
as he has he gives ; of silver and gold he has little, and 
in their absence he gives thoughts and counsel. Those 
who wish to pursue the subject farther should read the 
author's recent work entitled "Life Without a Master.'' 



INDEX. 



Adapt yourself to surroundings, 
12. 

Ancestors, worshiped as gods, 
24. 

Animals, should have kind 
treatment, 182 ; men are ani- 
mals, 183 ; of animal food, 
184; a tendency to kinder treat- 
ment, 185 ; man as an ani- 
mal, 186. 

Arrest, what right ? 94. 

Avarice, a folly and sin, 122. 



Belief, depends on experience, 9. 

Bible, no more a sacred book ; 
is it a holy book ? 117; its 
authenticity , 88 ; it can be 
dispensed with, 40. 

Charity, one thing for one, an- 
other for another, 189. 

Chastity, of married women, 
193. 

Christianity, a form of pagan- 
ism, 33 ; does not make men 
good, 207 ; Bible characters, 
208. 

Civilization, its features, 242. 
Condemn not, 241. 
Contracts, make none, 177 ; to 
be avoided, 226. 



Death, new views, 196 ; not sad 
to die, 197 ; soon forgotten, 

197 ; live while we live, 197 ; 
religion teaches fear of death, 

198 ; we should have advanced 
ideas, 199. 



Debts, through them men be- 
come slaves, 177. 

Destiny, or fate, 199 ; same as 
Providence, 200 ; nothing 
fated, 201. 

Devil, that you cannot see most 
to be dreaded, 116. 

Duty, belief in, 204 ; with its 
disappearance the whole 
structure falls, 206. 

Education, elements only in 
schools, 132 ; little attention 
given to body, 133 ; moral na- 
ture neglected, 183 ; too much 
machinery, 133 ; the mother 
the true teacher, 1 33 ; more 
teaching at home, 133 ; all in- 
struction not wisdom, 129 ; 
learning a growth of soul, 130 ; 
wisdom the principal thing, 
1 30 ; too many years in col- 
lege, 131 ; education a sup- 
port of government, 132; 
ought to be not a class matter, 
132; its defects, 227. 

Era, a new one dawning, 103 ; 
new isms, 105. 

Evidence, came from God, 136 ; 
leads men differently, 137 ; 
only for people who see, 138. 

Evil, for one, good for another, 
113 ; cannot repress evil with 
evil, 116 ; conflict strengthens, 
117 ; resist not, 117, 143. 



Family, its status changed, 27. 

Fashion, a spook, 64. 

Fiction, that people are con- 



318 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



trolled by force, 82. 
Galileo right, the world moves, 
35. 

Gifts, not to be encouraged, 
165 ; objections to giving or re- 
ceiving, 166 ; excessive charity 
harms, 167 ; every gift a sacri- 
fice, 167; money given al- 
ways at some one's expense, 
168 ; has the state a right to 
make grants ? 168 ; how the 
principle works in free 
schools, 169 ; why give? 173 : 
a dime given, a dollar ex- 
pected, 173; should we give? 
231. 

God everywhere, 58 ; God left 
for a new master, 59 ; we 
know no God, 8 ; convenient 
to have one, 9 : no use for 
God, 13; whom men worship, 
33 ; only a hero, 44 ; not feared 
now, 55 ; men are gods, 27 ; 
wicked things in his name, 
81 ; men have lost faith, 123. 

Government, connected with 
religion, 66 ; no use for it, 74 : 
why govern by the past ? 75 ; 
men should be governed by 
reason, 75; the less the better, 
78 ; fails when divine right 
fails, 79 : built on fictions, 79 : 
originates in formality, 80; 
based on fraud, 81 ; deception 
and strategy, 82 ; when peo- j 
pie change, only change mas- 
ters, 85 ; the people originally 
had the power, 86; king 
formerly a servant, 88 ; offi- 
cials have no peculiar rights. 
90 ; all governing done by 
men, 91 ; representative gov- 
ernment a fraud, 102 ; who 
shall dictate to us? 103; can 
we dispense with government ? 
213; all men brothers, 93; 
right to govern, 212 : origin, 
213. 

Grace, in nature none, 175. 
Guilt, how determined, 96. 



Immortality, impossible, 65 ; 
know nothing of world to 
come, 125. 



Inheritance, causes misery, 122. 
Interpreters, avoid them, 89. 



Judge not, conviction a farce, 
135. 

Justice, does not change with 
weather, 88 : no universal jus- 
tice, 90. 



Kindness, powerful, 116. 
Kings, not infallible, 28. 



Labor, recommended. 12 ; with- 
out labor, must starve, 14 ; 
no obligation to labor for 
others, 71 ; should be a pleas- 
ure, 128 ; is the first condi- 
tion, 127: servants not needed, 
127 ; most ills come from 
agents, 127 ; if work were 
play, it would be liked, 129. 

Law, conservative, 109 ; does 
not make men moral, 109 ; 
effective only when executed, 
110 : not needed, 216 : laws sup- 
posed to govern men, 106 ; 
formerly all laws from God, 
107 : men need none, 107 ; 
nature has none, 107 ; local 
laws alone needed, 107 ; laws 
are only contrivances and for 
slaves only, 108 ; never make 
men better, 109. 

Legitimacy, what is it? 110: 
cease to talk of it, 111. 

Legislature, never makes laws as 
a body, 64 ; legislator a mere 
man, 64 ; depends at last upon 
courts, 110. 

Liberty, above all, 15 ; for few 
onlv, 73. 

Live/the way, 244, 226. 

Living thoughts, 249. 

Longevity, Moses' case, 156 : 
age of men measured, 157. 

Luther, sounded death knell 
of religion, 31. 



Majority, shall eight govern 
seven ? 78 : votes do not make 
rights, 79. 



INDEX. 



319 



Men, none complete, only parts 
of men, 70. 

Marriage, absurd notions, 186 : 
monogamy a Christian rule, 
187; Bible endorses polygamy, 
187 ; polygamy in the East, 
188; monogamy in Greece and 
Eome, 188; to be commended, 
189; state should not interfere, 
190 ; marriage a sale with 
Anglo Saxons, 191 ; whims 
and queer notions, 192 ; peo- 
ple more sensible in the East, 
193 ; our horror for wife with 
two husbands, 193; a man may 
have a dozen wives, 194 ; what 
Feuerbach says, 194 ; why so 
much lying? 1V(5; an ordinary 
business matter, 236 ; too 
much license, 237. 

Masters, never necessary, 74. 

Minorities, have always ruled, 
69. 

Mystery, of this world we need 
not know, 14. 



Nature, has no masters, 68 ; has 

no ranks, 69. 
Necessary, nothing that may be 

avoided, 260, 270. 
Nudity, our queer notions, 195. 



Old Testament ignored, 53. 
Opinions of others to be re- 
spected, 11. 



Patriotism is selfishness, 161 ; 
why love patriots, 162. 

Peace at all times, 12. 

People, do they rule, 99 ; think- 
ing done by few, 100 ; are a 
herd, 100 ; where and who 
are they? 63. 

Pity, why should we? 178; 
savages do not, 180. 

Pleasure, he that loveth shall 
be poor, 128. 

Power cannot be in two places, 
81. 

Practical life, under New Dis- 
pensation, 124. 
Pride, should be suppressed, 115 ; 



onlj r by pride cometh conten- 
tion, 153; let us lay aside 
pride, 153. 

Proof, proved guilty, how, 97 ; 
trials matters of chance, 98 ; 
no man proved guilty, 137 ; 
is merely a step. 137 ; no one 
is ever certain, 137 ; is power- 
less, 138 ; argument no proof, 
138 ; proof for Moslem not for 
Jew, 138 ; the author does not 
claim to prove, 139; courts act 
without proof, 139. 

Progress, the world moves, 23 ; 
shall it be no more ? 30. 

Property, the earth is the Lord's, 
121; state only grants titles, 
121 ; men have no title, 122 ; 
should not own property after 
death, 122; about titles, 239. 

Protection, parody on, 16, 21 ; 
nobody needs it, 77. 

Protestantism, unbelief its 
cause, 31. 

Public opinion an artificial 
production, 101, 102. 

Punishment, recent changes, 28 ; 
right to govern implies punish- 
ment, 73; is no protection, 
113 ; why punish, 142 ; comes 
from Bible, 144 ; do we need 
it? 215 ; its cruelty, 218, 224. 



Ranks, should be none, 70. 

Religion, the author's views, 22; 
its progress, 23; everywhere 
and in all things, 24 ; very 
little at present, 26 ; it is what 
people believe, 26 ; belongs to 
an age of ignorance, 30 ; no 
radical difference in religions, 
32; all have Levites or priests, 
33 ; all advocate humility, 
34 ; if no religion, no slaves, 
34 ; merely a system of gov- 
ernment, 48 ; is becoming a 
matter of reason, 57 ; piety 
and morality not connected, 
208 ; true religion in Middle 
Ages, 209. 

Resistance, its right, 73. 

Revenge, nothing more unman- 
ly, 111 ; is expensive, 114 ; al- 
ways senseless, 221. 



320 



THE NEW DISPENSATION. 



Review and Conclusion, 203. 
Rewards, and punishments, 118 ; 

there should be none, 118 ; 

always unjust, 223. 
Right, do right, no matter what 

others do, 116. 



Sacrifice, all people do, 48; in 
Middle Ages, 174 ; Christ did 
not, 52 ; of human beings, 52. 

Schools, free system, 170. 

Self-confidence among men, 29. 

Self-help, is what we want, 202. 

Servant, no man born to be, 70 ; 
hired service not desirable, 
119. 

Slavery for all, 20 ; people grow 
into it, 77 ; can a man con- 
tract to be a slave? 80; comes 
from man's own indolence, 
83 ; man a slave only so long 
as he obeys, 83 ; how are men 
subdued, 84 ; men deserve to 
be slaves, 87 ; educated to be 
slaves, 87 ; Bible teaches hu- 
mility, 88. 

Spirits, world once full of them, 
25 ; air full, as people believe, 
65 ; no spirit of heat, 66 ; 
spirits are declining, 62. 

State, men are always the state, 
27 ; it never earns a dollar, 
175 ; slavery its corner stone, 
178. 

Straight ahead, and then no 

trouble, 11. 
Strangers held as enemies by 

the ancients, 25. 
Surety for others, 181. 
Swear not, 134. 



Trials, none fair, 98 ; two sides 
to all cases, 140 ; trial a cere- 
mony, 141 : trials and punish- 
ments, 241 ; trials and evi- 
dence, 240. 

Troubles, usually over imagi- 
nary things, 76. 

Truth, none for eternity, 15. 



Vows, none should be made, 176- 



Waste, is everywhere, 157. 

Wealth, should be no conflict 
between rich and poor, 149 ; 
no right to envoy the rich, 
150 ; poor wronged not by the 
rich but by laws, 151; poor be- 
cause they ought to be poor, 
152 ; importance of wealth, 
238 ; not a source of happi- 
ness, 145 ; money cannot buy 
health, 145 : a competence 
alone desirable, 146 ; rich men 
not bad men, 147 ; wealth not 
elevating, 147 ; leads to lux- 
ury. 148. 

WhaV shall we do? 123. 

Women, to be treated as equals 
of men, 190. 

Worship no more, 29 ; men 
anxious to worship, 72 ; now 
worship God less and state 
more, 73 ; shall men worship ? 
41,205; fear a cause of wor- 
ship, 46 ; worship is sacrifice, 
48 ; is declining. 54. 

Wrangle with no one, 10. 

Wrong, no man does, 119 ; no 
real merit in actions, 120. 



20 



Jan - 10 *r\/%i 



JAN 3 1901 



